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The Vancouver ProvinceTue, 03 Mar 2015 18:51:12 +0000enhourly1http://wordpress.com/http://s2.wp.com/i/buttonw-com.png » Richard Shermanhttp://blogs.theprovince.com
The Morning Skate, Feb. 20: Trade or sign Matthias? Who hated Horvat? NHL’s worst cities and NFLers in underwearhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/02/20/the-morning-skate-feb-20-trade-or-sign-matthias-who-hated-horvat-nhls-worst-cities-and-nflers-in-underwear/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/02/20/the-morning-skate-feb-20-trade-or-sign-matthias-who-hated-horvat-nhls-worst-cities-and-nflers-in-underwear/#commentsFri, 20 Feb 2015 17:30:44 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=179874The Canucks’ win in New York last night was one of the most intriguing of the season.

When the Sedins play like they did last night, when you see the progression of Bo Horvat, when you see the spirit in …

]]>The Canucks’ win in New York last night was one of the most intriguing of the season.

When the Sedins play like they did last night, when you see the progression of Bo Horvat, when you see the spirit in a rag-tag blueline tossed together by injury crisis, do you start to believe this team could actually go on a playoff run and not just sneak in?

Do you believe Shawn Matthias, with his 14th goal of the season, is now a crucial piece they have to get re-signed after this season as an unrestricted free agent?

Do you believe that this kind of showing pushes the team into seriously looking at being players at the trade deadline, that the right deal could absolutely give them a shot to make some waves this year?

And do you believe, on the heels of the Bruins game, the Wild game, the Penguins game, that this is an entertaining team that’s worthy of selling out Rogers Arena again?

The Canucks’ play in the last couple of weeks has certainly turned my head. But when there have been so many questions about the interference of an ownership that desperately wants to win, you have to wonder if their heads have been turned too, and the vision of playoff dollars is causing some angst in the corridors of power down on Griffiths Way.

There were a load of storylines out of the game last night, storylines that resonate beyond just getting two points. One of them clearly is the play of the Sedins. Yes, they have looked old and tired at times this year, but when they’re on, they’re still elite, and Tony Gallagher has you covered with some thoughts on them here.

Then, there is Horvat. Willie Desjardins may say less than Alain Vigneault. Getting a “real good” out of him is usually as good as it gets. But Botchford got some great stuff on him regarding Horvat. He admitted that he didn’t really want Horvat on the team. That he was one of those stodgy, rigid old-school hockey coaches who didn’t believe a 19-year-old had anything to offer.

“When Jim talked to me about him coming in, I just didn’t see a 19-year-old coming and playing if we were going to make a run,” Desjardins said.

Of course, you have to check out Botchford’s Provies where we learn about the French Magic used by Alex Burrows, about the resurgent Sedins, that Eddie Lack gets the start in front of 25 Swedish friends and family who have travelled over to see him play, and that Lack isn’t afraid to pull out a Bieksa impression on social media. Head on over and check them out.

Away from the rink, it seems the longest-running contract saga in Canucks history, that of Chris Tanev, continues to drag on with no immediate hope.

Buyers or sellers?

ESPN is getting a jump on the trading deadline, looking at each team’s options. So are the Canucks buyers or sellers? They’ve decided the Canucks are POTENTIAL BUYERS. What that means I don’t know. I guess it’s better than RELUCTANT SELLERS, or SLIGHTLY INTERESTED IN A SHORT-TERM LEASE BUT WOULD PREFER INVESTMENT PROPERTY BY THE BEACH.

What would you do with Matthias at this point? His value is going up and up, and if you think his salary is going to be hard to fit into your structure in the offseason, it may be wise to get something for him now. Or do you look at the way he’s scoring, and the size he brings, and think this is a piece you have to pay top dollar for to get signed long-term?

Hmm, things are getting exciting in L.A. They may have won six in a row, and are starting to look like they’re kind of interested again, but there are some big things facing the Kings if they want to go back-to-back.

L.A. is tied in points with the Sharks, and they’re expected to clash in front of nearly 70,000 fans in the Stadium Series on Saturday night.

California is known for some fickle fans. They love the Lakers and Dodgers, but are also known to show up late, leave early and want to be where something is trendy and not be so diehard. But columnist Mark Purdy says he thinks the best sports fans in Cali are hockey fans.

The Ducks have lost two in a row and have only won three of the last 10. It will be interesting to see how much they want to wheel and deal at the trade deadline, but there’s serious concern about their blueline. They’ve made sure they keep Tim Jackman in the fold for at least one more year.

With the Flames relevant at this time of year for the first time in forever, there’s a different tenor around the trade talk in Cowtown. Usually it’s about the Flames’ fire sale — Iginla, Kiprusoff, etc. — but this year, the Flames have gone far beyond just a hot start; they are well in the mix to return to the playoffs. Curtis Glencross has been named numerous times as the best chip to trade, and this has made him angry. While he did spout off to the media in Calgary earlier in the week, the GM says there has been no trade request.

You’ve clearly seen that anonymous poll this week that polled 10 NHL agents on where their clients would least like to go. Edmonton, of course! Winnipeg? Obviously. Buffalo, yep.

The surprise on the list was Toronto. It’s a funny line pro athletes tread. They get paid millions regardless, but would they rather be in a market where they are adored, where the pressure might bring out the best in them, where endorsement opportunities flow? Or toil in anonymity in the sun belt and cash their cheques and do what they want? Money is clearly an issue: the Montreal Gazette recently did the math on the plunge in the Canadian dollar and surmised that P.K. Subban made in excess of $23,000 more PER GAME with his contract now than when he signed it, thanks to the exchange rate.

But where does winning come into it? Is that the reason Toronto, the most hockey-mad market on the planet, was on the “no” list for players? Was it the media, scrapping and hounding for a story all the time? Was it Phil Kessel? The fun part is that it has sent the media into a frenzy.

I know I’m going a bit poll-crazy today, but, where would you least like to live? My arbitrary list includes all Canadian markets plus some of the other more notorious NHL markets. Vote multiple times, tell your friends!

Still it’s remarkable that Montreal, an elite team, loses all the time to teams not in playoff spots. They see the issue as goal scoring, and you have to wonder what they’ll be looking to do at the deadline with so many young pieces.

Advanced class

So much blather over advanced stats. Gah, honestly, who cares? It’s information. Use it or don’t.

So Bleacher Report did a whole article on the NHL’s best “throwback” uniforms, including so many of the new teams, like Columbus, Tampa Bay, that you can’t even see much of a difference from what you see today.

There is some good stuff in here. The Canucks’ white skate jersey is lauded. The Nordiques are repping the Avalanche entry, which is a good shout. They’re amongst the best jerseys we’ve ever seen.

However, there are some great entries missing.

Minnesota North Stars, which could have been used for either Dallas or the Wild.

California Golden Seals.

Cleveland Barons.

New York Islanders.

Colorado Rockies.

Pittsburgh Penguins.

Some sweet-looking unis there. And I just love the old goalie masks, too.

Hmm. Seems like a good time for a completely arbitrary and non-scientific poll. We will include the original six just because they’re generally always in the discussion, throw in some of the ones above and some that are featured in the linked post just for good measure.

Yes, it’s amazing that Los Angeles hasn’t had an NFL team forever. The stadium of course is the big issue, and stadiums are expensive. So this is amazing, a two-for-one a la the Jets and Giants, or even Inter and AC Milan. A stadium share, with intentions of the Raiders AND Chargers to move to L.A. suburb Carson and build one stadium for both to share. Now, let’s watch the Oakland and San Diego politicians and advocates scramble as to whether they should spend up to a billion dollars on subsidies, grants and tax breaks that should go to transit, health care, education, law enforcement etc, etc. And go!

Men in underwear

Yes, I am an NFL sucker. They have turned the draft into riveting TV. Men at a desk, men on a stage reading cards, men rocking and hugging, it’s brilliant. Even more brilliant is the NFL Combine, this weekend in Indianapolis. College prospects in body-hugging Under Armour, lifting weights, running the 40-yard dash, agility drills, throwing, catching. It should be boring, but I love it. They’re selling hope, hope that your team will land a gem. And not just in the first round. Now, when you watch a combine and see a receiver who can’t catch run a 4.3-second 40, you stay riveted up to the seventh round of the draft hoping you’ll snag him.

Jason Botchford boiled the game down to the biggest prick, sorry, thorn in the Canucks’ side, Ryan Kesler. He writes about Kesler’s passive-aggressive shots at Vancouver in the morning skate, and how he succeeded in twisting the knife with the shot to Derek Dorsett in the game. The relationship between Kesler and Vancouver, not the Canucks, but Vancouver, is broken.

#Ducks Kesler makes parting statement! I asked him if Vancouver now a routine NHL stop? "Ya it's a road city now, I got nothing left here".

Don’t expect a Vince Carter-esque reconciliation down the road when the initial sting of a player who wanted out wears off and fans appreciate the history. No, Kesler will be all too willing to play the part of villain with little soundbites, tweets and weather shots about the hot California sun, which makes you oh-so-thirsty without the spotlight of being recognized all over town. Yes, the sun, the beaches, California certainly has some iconic beauty.

Of course if you just can’t get enough Kesler, it always provides great Provies fodder for Jason.

Ultimately, though, was it just one game? One flat performance against one of the NHL’s best teams? Or was it a troubling shadow of what we saw in the last half of last season that was the Torts Debacle?

Injuries aren’t helping, but you can’t help but look at this team and say their best players are still the Sedins, and if they were to sneak into the playoffs and match up against the Ducks, do you think they could win one game?

Not that we haven’t covered this top to bottom already with Roberto Luongo’s homecoming to Vancouver and Jason Botchford’s You Gotta Eat Here tour of Florida, but others are still delving into the indelible connection Luongo has with this fair city. It seems it always comes down to “stuff.”

The Ducks got off to a good start here after the break, but are looking at San Jose and then Chicago later this week as real tests to jump right back into the fire after spending the break sipping wine romantically in the Napa Valley.

Of course, as Vancouver media flocks to Kesler, the Ducks beat guys head to Nick Bonino.

“You get noticed on the street a lot more. In Newport [Beach], no one really knows who you are. You’re just on the beach, going down to the Bear Flag and eating fish tacos and no one cares.

“Here you go grab a sandwich somewhere and a couple of people will come and say, ‘Nice to meet you’ or ‘Glad you’re here.’ It’s definitely pretty neat.”

I’m sure Kesler could recommend a couple of quiet places he could get some fish tacos in Vancouver and not be bothered.

In another piece, Bonino claims he offered tips to his teammates on how to play the Ducks. Hmm, how did that work out? Might want to talk to Ryan Miller about coaching strategies.

Big week for the Blackhawks too as they face the Kings before taking on the Ducks. They acknowledge it’s a big rivalry for them, but without the real hate that seemed to populate the Canucks-Blackhawks rivalry of years past.

Helene Elliott writes that the Ducks are a playoff lock, and while the Kings are in ninth, they feel they’re on the cusp of going on a run and getting back in the mix.

The opposition was the complete opposite end of the scale, but while the Canucks struggled, the Flames sparked with a dominant show coming back from the NHL All-Star Break.

In Edmonton, I would have to imagine they want the team to lose more than anything headed down the stretch. They’ve got to uphold that great tradition of tanking for a higher draft pick in a great draft year. Taylor Hall getting injured in practice can only help in that respect.

Canadian Clubs

Montreal may be the best Canadian team, but are they real Cup contenders? They’re only two points off the conference lead, and got in the swing of things last night with a great performance from Carey Price.

Media day was yesterday and we learned as much from Marshawn Lynch as we did pretty much anyone else who spoke. Interesting questions in Seattle, though. Russell Wilson has already won one Super Bowl and is now in his second. He will get paid. And in the Emerald City they’re already worrying about what his big next contract will mean for the rest of the roster.

Other than that, yes, there was Marshawn Lynch hyperbole.

The whole Deflategate thing is so boring at this point. But those who have gone deeper — and with the Patriots’ legacy of cheating, why wouldn’t you? — have found that New England historically have a lower fumble rate than other teams and are wondering why that might be.

As for media day? Who won it? Richard Sherman. He made the excellent point that commissioner Roger Goodell went into hiding when the Ray Rice situation was blowing up. Their officials who blow calls often don’t have to talk. So why should players be fined into six figures for not offering inane analysis to the media, but other league players can dodge and duck for months?

If someone drops by your cubicle in the next few days and asks you to “buy a square,” odds are it’s a blind pool where you just get a spot and then they draw the numbers. Still, it’s good to know which numbers have a greater chance of paying off. The best numbers to have are 7 and 4 in tandem, but there are a whole lot of combinations that have a zero per cent history of paying out.

On the Super Bowl, a quick poll. I have two kids who both play soccer. I coach my younger one; thankfully, this Sunday we play at home at 9:15 a.m., phew. The younger one is on a very good team, and I not only like watching them play, but it’s a treat to just get to watch and not worry about who’s playing in what position, who has to go in goal, and which parents are shooting me death glares because their kid isn’t playing striker. And the team is good. Very good, and they have an important game on Sunday against another unbeaten team that could clinch a spot in the league final if they win.

The kickoff is at 4 p.m., be there for warmup at 3. In Ladner. I live in Mount Pleasant. For those who don’t already see the problem, the Super Bowl kicks off at 3:45-ish.

Ugh.

So, I am pretty sure I know what I will do, but wanted to gather popular opinion.

Whitecaps camp is well underway. Our Man Weber writes that while fans weren’t all that impressed with the acquisition of Pa-Modou Kah following a tough season with Portland, he’s started things well on the pitch, seeming to not only be a good fit with his teammates, but looking good so far, although it’s only training.

Rude boys

Across the pond, they’re approaching their version of the trade deadline in the English Premier League. After Jan. 31 you can’t buy or sell players until after the season. This time is usually filled with reporters up and down the country stationed outside the various teams’ training grounds surrounded by fans, while a panel throws constantly to said reporter to report that nothing is going on.

Does it feel like January when we’re routinely seeing temperatures in double figures? Victoria Day long weekend will be here before you know it and campgrounds around B.C. will be populated with people. This is awesome. A beer that also acts as mosquito repellent. Well, not really the beer, but the box. It’s treated with a natural repellent and you toss it in the campfire and drink away. Genius.

Later …

Check out our podcast from Spencer Kyte and myself, where we look back on the shocking knockout of Alex Gustafsson by Anthony Johnson, and look ahead to Anderson Silva’s return this weekend.

Heard some late-breaking Twitter complaints about the 1040 morning show making some off-colour comments about Eugenie Bouchard. Obviously a touchy subject for me. Didn’t hear it, but after the fuss about her last week, if it’s true, have to wonder what it’s going to take to get over it being the only thing some sports media can talk about when you’re dealing with an elite athlete who just happens to be attractive and have lady parts.

@SocialAssassin2 she doesn't scream when she plays but would if she was "with" Sat the producer.

Nothing means anything anymore – just who can make the best references or get the best dig. The questions don’t matter, the soundbites do.

But of course, the soundbites have to come from somewhere. Richard Sherman rubs some people the wrong way. Fair enough. But one thing he does well which is inarguable is he’s smart and can score points quickly. The plague of ‘Talk about’ is the subject of a very fine piece from Grantland’s Bryan Curtis. It’s not even a question, it’s a sloppy, lazy premise, which generally gets the lowest common denominator of answer. When you go into a scrum, you know the kinds of questions that will be asked. Your standardized sound bite will be in there, whether you say ‘talk about’ or not. What you should come in there with is the one question you think will be different. Now imagine *all* the reporters walk in with that concept in mind. All of a sudden, these discussions will be better for all.

Alright, with that done, on with your Morning Skate.

The Home Team

There was so much White Towel content this weekend, I’ll get to that in a moment. First, though, Kuze chimes in with a simple truth: the Canucks have been road warriors, but home is where the heart is and it’s where you make your hay.

Canucks propsects Jared McCann and Cole Cassels are ripping up the OHL, in case you hadn’t noticed. Both are scoring at the rates you’d hope players in their 18-year-old seasons would be. There’s still a long way to go for both of them, but for a team that’s lacked scoring punch in their prospect pool for years, this is a good trend.

It’s never done much for me. I’ve typically watched a few minutes each year, but this year, I didn’t bother, mostly because I was driving back into town but also because I just couldn’t be bothered.

That’s just me, of course, but I suspect there are others. Of course, plenty get excited about it and from I heard of the fun, loose nature of Friday’s Fantasy Draft, I get why it appeals to many. It’s modern sports, something I really appreciate: it’s filled with banter, nuggets and almost entirely nonsense. It’s fun and for once, the players got to show some fun.

Numbers Game on Long Island

Those of you who’ve heard me on Province Sports Radio or seen some of my writing know I put a lot of stock into numbers. They tell us what’s happened and are useful in telling us what’s likely to happen next.

The KHL had their All Star game over the weekend and like the NHL and the NFL, they got the mascots involved:

Youth Sports

Kids and parents and how they approach youth sports is a bit of a bugaboo of mine.

Before I start, let’s all take a deep breath. Most of you are awesome parents. Your kids are pretty great too. But we’ve all been swept up by a mania. We want the best for our kids, we want them to be happy. We want them to have every chance to succeed.

Further, there was a photo being passed around last week, explaining how all but four of Urban Meyer’s NCAA football championship team at Ohio State had been multi-sport athletes as kids and teenagers. It’s something too many parents get sucked away from; coaches want the kids to specialize too soon and for the wrong reasons. It’s counter intuitive, but in sports, money actually solves very few problems. Much of the time it gets thrown at things that aren’t even an issue in the first place.

I had a great conversation with a friend on the weekend, who worked for a time as a goalie coach for a high profile local minor hockey association. He told me how parents would come up to him all the time, asking ‘do you think he’s got what it takes?’

The catch? These boys were 10, 11, 12 years old. Parents, I’m sorry, but no coach has an inkling of whether a kid might even have a chance at being in the conversation of whether he might make it until their at least 14, usually 15. Some kids you don’t know until 16 or 17. That’s called puberty. A big kid in peewee may turn out to be not so big as a teenager – and vice versa.

Want to spend your hockey money on your kid? Save it, wait until they’re well into their teenage years. That’s when the coaching might actually make a difference. The closer you get to the top, the more the little things matter. The NHL is the best. The guys in the AHL, who are massively better athletes than any of us will ever be, are still not good enough. Most major junior players aren’t good enough for the AHL, but they’re still far superior as hockey players to most of us. Let that sink in.

Your kid stands a good chance to be good at his or her sport of choice. They stand a far, far, far bigger chance of being just like the rest of us when it comes to being the best of the best.

Staff photographers were the life blood for news outlets for so long. At the top of the North American sports pyramid for much of the last half century were the fellas at Sports Illustrated. But with the rise of digital photography in the last decade (did you know more than half the photos all time have been taken since 2007?), staff photogs have been under threat. This past week, the axe fell on SI’s staff. Can they really keep calling themselves Sports Illustrated if they are buying all their photos from elsewhere?

SI’s still putting out great stuff, even if they’re moving away from in-house photography. Richard Deitsch covers the media for the magazine and has a fine piece ahead of the Super Bowl on the three writers who have covered all 48 previous incarnations of the biggest date on the American sporting calendar.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/01/26/the-morning-skate-jan-25th-richard-sherman-dismisses-silly-questions-nhl-all-star-madness-and-mascots-and-more/feed/02015 Honda NHL All-Star GamepericosVancouver Canucks v Philadelphia FlyersTina Russell / Observer-Dispatch From left, Utica Comets player Tom Sestito brings the puck down the ice as Rochester Americans player Brady Austin defends during AHL hockey at the Utica Memorial Auditorium Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014.CALGARY, AB --The Roughnecks Dane Dobbie fires a shot at Vancouver Stealth goalie Tyler Richards during the Roughnecks home opener in Calgary, Saturday. (Crystal Schick/Calgary Herald) TORONTO, ON - NOVEMBER 20: Phil Kessel #81 of the Toronto Maple Leafs skates during NHL game action against the Tampa Bay Lightning November 20, 2014 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. (Photo by Graig Abel/NHLI via Getty Images)BETHPAGE, NY - SEPTEMBER 09: John Tavares (C) addresses the media as Head Coach Jack Capuano (L) and General Manager Garth Snow of the New York Islanders look on during a press conference naming John Tavares the New York Islanders team captain at Carlyle on the Green on September 9, 2013 in Bethpage, New York. (Photo by Andy Marlin/Getty Images)Image (1) 2235.zGetzlaf2.jpg for post 15724The Morning Skate, Jan. 13: Top row of the Rog, first-place Predators (!!), Doan’s Christian-inspired elbowshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/01/13/the-morning-skate-jan-13-top-row-of-the-rog-first-place-predators-doans-christian-inspired-elbows/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2015/01/13/the-morning-skate-jan-13-top-row-of-the-rog-first-place-predators-doans-christian-inspired-elbows/#commentsTue, 13 Jan 2015 17:13:32 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=175936Top row, baby. That’s my new mantra for having fun at Canucks games.

Last Tuesday, that’s where I ended up when the Canucks hosted the New York Islanders. My buddy Larry invited me; he, in turn, had been invited by …

]]>Top row, baby. That’s my new mantra for having fun at Canucks games.

Last Tuesday, that’s where I ended up when the Canucks hosted the New York Islanders. My buddy Larry invited me; he, in turn, had been invited by good Canadian boys Carl and Vic.

When Carl announced, pre-game at The Pint, that we were sitting in the top row, I just about lost it. You see, I go to few Canucks games, but when I do, I’ve never sat top row. It’s been years since I’ve sat even close to the top row. I couldn’t remember what the upper deck was even like.

Incredible. Great fun. I saw guys in the top row throwing empty beer cans over their shoulder, thwacking off the back wall. (“Why are you doing that?” I asked. “Because we can,” one of them answered. “It’s a tradition!”) Early in the second period, a homeless man came and sat next to us. Or, at very least, he appeared to be a homeless man. After he finished screaming at me to sit down, he started stammering something repeatedly. I couldn’t understand what he was saying. Turns out he was babbling at the two guys sitting right below us, “Take off your turbans! Take off your turbans!” And he said that same sentence about 20 times in a row. That seemed to catch security’s attention. He was escorted out moments later.

The wave started up there. The most laughs were had up there. Loud conversations were enjoyed, without fear of someone telling you to shut up. There were more jerseys, more young people, more fans truly full of life and enthusiasm.

It was free, so it was obviously well worth it. But at face value — somewhere around $70 per ticket — it would have also been worth it. Though I don’t remember much about the game, which was less interesting than the last time the Islanders came to town and scored seven third-period goals.

The Home Team

So the Canucks are in Nashville tonight, starting a potentially critical road trip that serves up five games in eight nights. The Predators, the Philadelphia Flyers, the Carolina Hurricanes, the Florida Panthers and Tampa Bay Lightning. What’s the potential for the Canucks? Should they win two? Three? Will they have a leg up to win even one?

Rinne’s story is an incredible one. He missed 51 games last season due to an E. Coli infection. This season he has a goals-against average of 1.98. It’s interesting to note that the 32-year-old is already a two-time Vezina finalist — soon to be three-time — and yet has only just been selected for his first all-star game. Another in a long list of reasons to ditch the all-star game.

What it means for the Predators these days is that they have a ticket problem. As in, visiting fans — from cities such as Chicago and St. Louis — buying up thousands of tickets for games at Bridgestone Arena, making home games potentially feel like road games for the Preds. So the club is planning to do something about it.

As for the Canucks, it appears Dan Hamhuis is almost set to return to the lineup. In the meantime, longtime defenceman-in-waiting Frankie Corrado cracked the lineup Saturday against the Calgary Flames, and will be back in tonight. Our own Ben Kuzma says Corrado appears ready to play every night. (Which echoes what Jason Botchford wrote in Saturday’s Provies, when he went from going to bat for Corrado to play to going to bat for Corrado to play nightly.)

On Monday, Patrick Johnston and I sat in the Province Sports Radio Lounge (well, it’s not really a lounge, and you would never want to lounge there) and discussed Kevin Bieksa and deal-making and team-building and being in the “war room” (who doesn’t love war metaphors for sports teams?):

That’s some quality video! The entire podcast, which is at very least somewhat entertaining, can be found here.

Meanwhile, if the Canucks ever decide they would like to get back to fisticuffs in their lineup, they’d probably be keeping an eye on Russian defenceman Andrey Pedan. Not for the weak of stomach: what he did to Habs prospect Jarred Tinordi the other day:

Surfing the Pacific

Like the Edmonton Oilers’ chances at landing Connor McDavid with the first overall pick next June? As the Cult of Hockey’s David Staples writes, Oilers fans shouldn’t hold their breath. There’s all kinds of math involved, and it’s complicated, and it seems to favour the Buffalo Sabres more than anyone else. And, it appears, it doesn’t favour a team to even be favoured.

I had a nervous laugh or two reading an unusual post this morning about Arizona Coyotes captain Shane Doan, who hosts the San Jose Sharks tonight in a game quite crucial for the Canucks and the Pacific Division standings. The Battle of Cali writer starts this way: “He rivals Jonathan Quick in temper tantrums and Matt Cooke in elbows, but did you know that he does these things because Jesus Christ died for him? Right before Shane is about to concuss his next victim, he looks down at his hockey stick for inspiration, for you see, he writes his most favourite biblical verses on his sticks!” And indeed, those verses are listed, with some, uh, modern translation.

Around the NHL

Then there’s the Tampa Bay Lightning’s Tyler Johnson, a name most hockey fans still don’t know even though he’s producing at a point-per-game pace. He’s among the “surprising mid-season stats” for the Hockey Writers’ Alex Kozovski, and will be hosting your Canucks next Tuesday in Tampa. That is, if he can return from an undetermined injury he sustained Monday night during Tampa’s loss to the Philadelphia Flyers.

Meanwhile, as Rex Ryan has had a nice quick landing in Buffalo as the new head coach of the Bills, I’ve had my own pleasant experience relating to the New York Jets in the last few days: finally, finally, finally watching HBO’s documentary on Joe Namath. If you ever get a chance to see it, do. The man was larger than life as a player and now, into his 70’s, he’d certainly be one of your larger-than-life senior citizens. Here he discusses his bachelor pad, including the llama-hair carpets:

Basically I found myself, throughout the film, waiting to hear what Namath would say next. Shocking that the film never mentioned this sensational appearance on The Brady Bunch:

Yep, I just got The Brady Bunch into the Morning Skate. * Paul Chapman shakes head disapprovingly *

Meanwhile, here’s an awesome story. As you know by now, Real Madrid uberstar Cristiano Ronaldo scored his third Ballon d’Or on Monday, beating four-time winner Lionel Messi. Well, well, well, it turns out they’re a couple of petty babies. Unless Ronaldo truly believes that the top-three players in the world last year were Sergio Ramos, Gareth Bale and Karim Benzema, and unless Messi truly believes that the top-three players in the world last year were Angel di Maria, Andres Iniesta and Javier Mascherano. But it appears that Ronaldo and Messi aren’t the only ones who favour club or international mates when it comes to voting.

Two Men, Two Balls and Two Boats

It’s no secret that I like tennis. I agree with some players who feel the season is a bit too long, but I’m always pumped for the four Grand Slam events. Which takes us to the Australian Open, which is underway next Monday in Melbourne. Well, there’s nothing better or cheesier than some of the things pro tennis does to promote its events. Like when Andre Agassi and Roger Federer whacked the ball around at the top of a Dubai tower a few years ago. Well, Fed’s always up for the laughs, so he and Lleyton Hewitt — still Australia’s favourite son in the sport — took to a pair of motorboats in Sydney Harbour for some fun. I particularly enjoyed the James Bond-like music attached to the video:

Right. Do not try that while houseboating on the Shuswap.

It’s in the Hole, It’s in the Hole

Abbotsford’s Nick Taylor, who won his first PGA Tour event back in November, was playing the Tournament of Champions at Maui’s Kapalua this past weekend. He finished six-under, a tie for 29th. But did you happen to catch this bunker shot he delivered on Sunday? Johnny Miller loved it:

Up a Creek Without a Paddle

Finally, when I first saw the poster for Schitt’s Creek, the new CBC comedy that premieres tonight, on a bus shelter, I thought, “How CBC. Giving a sitcom a name that only gets past the censors because, well, it’s spelled differently from the word that wouldn’t get past the censors.”

Then, this morning, I heard a promo on the radio — pretty much the exact same dialogue as the trailer below. But wouldn’t you know, the narrator can’t, or won’t, say the word “Schitt’s.” It’s more like “t’s.” Bush league. Here’s hoping the series is funnier than the promotion.

]]>Can Derek Dorsett be Derek Dorsett against a bunch of his old buddies?

The Vancouver Canucks kick off a seven-game roadie today, visiting the Columbus Blue Jackets (4 p.m., SNP/TSN 1040). Dorsett, the prickly winger, was drafted by Columbus in the seventh round of 2006 and spent parts of five seasons there, highlighted, some may insist, by a 2011-12 campaign featuring 235 minutes in penalties.

He talked about his return to Columbus, along with spending American Thanksgiving in the U.S., in this video for the Canucks website.

Columbus holds an interesting spot, it seems, for most Vancouver hockey fans. On one hand, it feels like most of us pay extra attention to the Blue Jackets because of guys like Port Moody native Ryan Johansen, the centre who has 24 points, including eight goals, in 21 games this season. You saw some Canuck fans pushing on Twitter for an offer sheet to be put in on Johansen when he was yet to re-sign with Columbus earlier this year.

On the flip side, do most fans in these parts know how the Blue Jackets are doing, that they’re in a 2-11-2 rut right now? Michael Arace writes in the Columbus Dispatch about the team missing an identity.

1. He started learning his multiplication tables by learning the fives.

2. Lists let you take a look at various topics.

3. Digits in stories are fun.

4. He likes to assign a story, say “Gimme Five,” and then chuckle knowingly.

5. He was Tito in a Jackson 5 cover band as a kid growing up.

Meanwhile, the good folks at CanucksArmy have a poll up, asking fans which home game they are looking forward to most of all. The return of Roberto Luongo on Jan. 8 is currently running away with the vote, sitting at 40 per cent as of this morning.

Polls aren’t as fun as top-five lists, but they’re still pretty cool. Here’s one of our own about the road trip.

Of course, the CFL handed out its year-end awards Thursday as part of the week and Lions linebacker Solomon Elimimian copped both the most outstanding player and top defensive player. Ed Willes talked to him for The Province.

FOOTBALL — AMERICAN STYLE

Love me some Richard Sherman. Seriously. The guy has no filter. Here’s a little of what he said on the podium Thursday night after his pair of interceptions helped his team to a 19-3 win over the host San Francisco 49ers.

Q: Was there anything mediocre about this game?

A: “Their fans. Their fans threw a few jabs, and somebody threw a glass bottle as we were jogging in. You never have to resort to name-calling and some of the things they said. It really just helps you appreciate your own fans.”

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/11/28/the-morning-skate-nov-28-talking-dorsett-the-love-of-top-five-lists-and-shermans-antics/feed/1Winnipeg Jets v Columbus Blue JacketssteveewenThe Morning Skate, Nov. 27: Monster road trip, a tale of two Martys, Thanksgiving football feasthttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/11/27/the-morning-skate-nov-27-monster-road-trip-a-tale-of-two-martys-thanksgiving-football-feast/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/11/27/the-morning-skate-nov-27-monster-road-trip-a-tale-of-two-martys-thanksgiving-football-feast/#commentsThu, 27 Nov 2014 17:01:39 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=171591Martin St. Louis said he was “expecting the worst and hoping for the best” when he finally showed his face in front of Tampa Bay fans again on Wednesday night.

When you ask out of the place where you’ve spent almost your whole career, tell them you’ll only accept one trade destination, and then come back with the enemy a few months later, you never really know how people are going to take it.

Well, let’s take a look at how Lightning fans reacted to the sight of their former captain last night:

And that’s probably the way it should be. A guy gives you 13 good seasons, wins you a Hart Trophy and a Stanley Cup, you show him some appreciation and then get on with whupping his ass and headbutting his teammates in the groin. The Lightning won it 4-3 with two goals from the player who came the other way in the St. Louis deal (Ryan Callahan) and they denied St. Louis the two points he needed to crack 1,000 for his career. All in all, a satisfying night for Tampa Bay fans.

The Home Team

The Canucks are on the ground in Columbus to begin their first monster road trip of the season on Friday night. It’s a seven-gamer, but the good news is there are really only two strong teams in the bunch: Pittsburgh and Montreal.

Jason Botchford will be your eyes and ears for the first four games of the trip in Columbus, Detroit, Washington and Pittsburgh. Ben Kuzma takes over for the Canadian leg in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal.

Zack Kassian, apparently, will not start the trip:

Zack Kassian did not travel with the #canucks to Columbus. Was slashed on the right arm/hand in 3rd per vs NJ. Update from Willie D later.

But what better way to ease into it than a game against the hapless Blue Jackets? They’re the only team in the NHL with a goals-against average worse than the Edmonton Oilers’. But they did manage to keep Winnipeg off the board for the first nine seconds on Tuesday night:

Note to Dalton Prout: You can only live off your one-punch of Milan Lucic for so long. Sooner or later, you gotta start playing defence again.

The Jackets have been the most-rumoured destination for David Perron, who seems to be on his way out of Edmonton. Not sure that will solve all the Blue Jackets’ problems (or the Oilers’), but local reporters just want them to do something.

When the Canucks play in Washington next Tuesday, you can now watch the game armed with knowledge of how the Capitals got their nicknames — which I’m sure is how all the other NHL players got their nicknames, too.

And since Toronto’s also on the itinerary, you might be interested in Jeff Blair’s assessment of the Leafs at the quarter pole.

Meanwhile, the Canucks are up to No. 7 in Sportsnet.ca’s NHL haiku power rankings, but their haiku itself ranks about 25th:

Bo Horvat is in

Ryan Miller only wins

Like DJ Khaled

Around the NHL

The long wait may be over for Martin Brodeur. The St. Louis Blues announced Wednesday that the future Hall-of-Famer will join them for a tryout on Friday after No. 1 netminder Brian Elliott went down with an injury on Tuesday night.

The Blues sound like a fun group, by the way:

Backes and Tarasenko were in a battle drill. Backes took exception and dropped gloves. He and Tarasenko argued after broken up. #stlblues

It’s a bit sad to see Brodeur hanging around the NHL like one of those freelance goalies who hauls his gear to 8 Rinks on Tuesday night in hopes of finding a game. Good for him if he catches on with the Blues, but I don’t like to see players who belong in a certain uniform shopping themselves around late in their careers (looking at you, Jarome Iginla), even if does get them a Cup (looking at you, Ray Bourque). There’s just a certain dignity in going down swinging with your own club. I’m not saying Brodeur hasn’t earned the right to play as long as he wants for whatever team will take him. I’m just saying I don’t like it.

The McDavids

Strange sight in the front row at the SAP Center last night: Five guys in Oilers jerseys with Connor McDavid nameplates on the back. The best part? They weren’t even at an Oilers game. They were watching the Flames play the Sharks. Hoping for a three-point game, I guess.

Chilly Chelly

If you like politicians, Leafs general manager Brendan Shanahan is your kind of guy. That’s what Shanahan’s former teammate Chris Chelios told Team 1050 on Wednesday. It didn’t sound like Chelios likes politicians.

Now I wouldn’t put it past a Kings Twitter account to troll hockey fans, but that looks an awful lot like the infamous “Burger King” that Wayne Gretzky was once forced to wear on his left breast. If you’ve got some time, the Royal Half has in its archives a detailed explanation of how the hideous jersey came to be.

Fallen Giant

The 9-17 Vancouver Giants fired head coach Troy Ward on Wednesday after falling 6-1 in Medicine Hat on Tuesday, their fourth loss in a row. The Giants responded by losing 4-0 to Lethbridge. Ward lasted 25 games. At one point last spring, we had him on our shortlist of candidates to take over the Canucks’ head-coaching job. Dodged a bullet there.

Hip check, Slovak-style

From Tuesday’s Extraliga action in Slovakia…

Thank the schedule-maker

It’s American Thanksgiving, which means there’s a good chance football fans are reading this from the comfort of their couches rather than their desks at work. Many years, it’s hard to justify skipping work on this day because Detroit Lions. But this year the schedule gods have smiled upon us.

The Seahawks visit their old friends in San Francisco at 5:30 p.m. for the first of two matchups in 17 days between last season’s NFC finalists. Both teams are 7-4 in the tough NFC West, and with the NFC South almost certain to produce a sub-.500 champion, those two wildcard playoff spots are looking more precious every week. It’s the first meeting between the teams since January, when Richard Sherman knocked down that last-minute end-zone pass and went off on Michael Crabtree:

As undercards go, you can’t ask for much more than Eagles at Cowboys (1:30 p.m.). Tied at 8-3, one of those teams is going to win the NFC East and the other is going to seriously complicate matters for the Seahawks and Niners.

Take five, Tiger

This is the date that everything changed in golf. You might remember Nov. 27, 2009, when Tiger Woods lost control of the wheel while driving on cruise control toward Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors. He plowed his SUV into a tree outside the mansion he shared with then-wife Elin Nordegren. Five years and numerous porn-star revelations later, Tiger is no closer to Nicklaus’s record than he was that day. In fact, he’s probably farther away than he’s ever been. AP isn’t ruling him out, but take a look at these numbers:

Tiger has always been fun to watch and I think we can all agree it would be thrilling to see him win another major. But at this point it has to be said: If he reaches 18, it will be one of the most astonishing sports comebacks of all time.

The future of MLS

The Whitecaps’ dream of a soccer-specific downtown stadium seems dormant, but don’t think owner Greg Kerfoot didn’t know what he was doing when he pitched it.

An interesting piece from CityLab explains why the future of MLS is downtown. Soccer’s demographic in North America is way younger than that of any other sport, and we’ve all heard how millennials favour urban areas over the ‘burbs. A study has shown that an MLS game loses 162 potential fans for every kilometre outside the downtown core that a stadium is located. The Columbus Crew pioneered the soccer-specific stadium in MLS, but it looks like the New England Revolution will build one in downtown Boston, and LAFC are determined to start out downtown as well.

Chasing the Grizz

The Philadelphia 76ers have played 15 games this season and lost them all, the latest coming last night in a 99-91 defeat to the Nets. Only 18 teams in NBA history have lost 19 or more consecutive games. Your Vancouver Grizzlies did it twice — in the same season. Nineteen years ago today they were in middle of a 19-game losing streak. Later that season, they had a 23-game losing streak stretching from February to April. Good times.

Cliff drop

Did you know a Canadian basketball player was the key figure in bringing down Bill Cosby? Deadspin has the story.

Clear priorities

Sometimes we at The Province take flack for going a bit heavy on the Canucks coverage. Some people feel the huge volume of Canucks news elbows other deserving sports into the margins. And on those occasions when we slap the Canucks on the front page, we inevitably hear from a few readers who believe that’s no place for sports coverage.

But if Wednesday’s edition of Brazil’s Estado de Minas is any indication, maybe we haven’t gone far enough. You see, Wednesday was the second leg of the Copa do Brasil between Atletico Mineiro and Cruzeiro. Take a look at how those guys covered all other news on the day their country’s soccer champions were to be crowned.

Not because he is the biggest, strongest or fastest guy on the football field.

Not because he challenges his opponents with the braggadocio of his favourite football player, …

]]>NEW WESTMINSTER — You always want to see more of Matt Seymour.

Not because he is the biggest, strongest or fastest guy on the football field.

Not because he challenges his opponents with the braggadocio of his favourite football player, Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman.

Polite, humble and the son of a pastor, he is none of the above. Yet in the heat of battle, Seymour has a way of becoming everything you need to see…and more.

“The first thing I thought when I watched him, was he didn’t strike me as having obvious explosiveness,” admits New Westminster Hyacks head coach Farhan Lalji who has since been able to see so much more of Seymour, his senior wide receiver/cornerback. “But then you watch him in game, and all he does is make explosive plays.”

In fact if you had watched him play on both sides of the ball last Friday in his team’s 30-14 win over the W.J. Mouat Hawks, you’d be excused for thinking Clark Kent had decided to make a quick costume change.

Trailing 7-0 in the first half to the Hawks, and his team having just turned the ball over on its own side of midfield, the 6-foot-1, 175-pound Seymour came back on the next snap and intercepted the ball, returning to to the Hyacks’ 40-yard line. On the next snap, he took a short screen pass, broke four tackles and exploded down field for a 60-yard touchdown.

“He lives up to the moment,” continued Lalji, whose Triple A No. 5-ranked team hosts its annual homecoming game Friday (7:30 p.m.) at Mercer Stadium against the West Vancouver Highlanders. “All of a sudden it’s 14-7 and we’ve got all the momentum going into halftime. He changed the game, and he has the ability to do that.”

The Hyacks are just thankful that Seymour found football.

Until ninth grade, he was a basketball junkie. But after a friend got him to come to tryouts, his future — one which now includes interest from CIS coaches from coast to coast and some U.S.-based NCAA schools — was set.

“I can’t explain it other than to say that it’s the brotherhood of football,” explained Seymour. “After the first year I just had so much fun playing football that I just felt inside, this was the sport I was meant to play.”

He may be torn between his love for shutting down his side of the field as a corner on defence, and high-pointing in a crowd to make big catches on offence, but the one thing he is certain of is his competitive desire to pursue the ball, whether in the air or in the arms of the opposition.

“In basketball, I was the guard, the little guy trying to jump over people a half-foot taller than me to get a rebound,” he laughed. “I’ve always had that in me. Even back in Grade 9 when I got a bruised lung going up for an interception. I was coughing up blood. I was in the hospital for a few days. That’s the punishment for being fearless, but I still love doing it.”

Just which side of the ball his future belongs to is still to be determined. But many CIS coaches have told Lalji that when the 2015 university season begins, Seymour will be a freshman-ready corner.

“It’s because he has such a feel for what offences are doing,” Lalji continued. “The best thing he does is defend the run or the short pass on his side of the field. He can cover deep, but he can break off his route and get a tackle for no gain.”

Sound a little like his alter ego in Seattle?

“I love the way he locks down his side of the field,” Seymour says of Sherman. “I try to emulate that.”

But then he goes and does something like he did in the Hyacks’ season opener at Grandview, Texas.

In front of a full house, in football’s grandest state, with the Friday Night Lights ablaze, he took a screen pass on the first play from scrimmage and took it 71 yards for a touchdown.

Festivities begin at 4:30 p.m. with an alumni touch football game, followed by family activities from 5-7 p.m. The 7:30 p.m. kickoff against West Vancouver will be highlighted by the game ball being parachuted onto the field at Mercer Stadium by the B.C. Sky Diving Team. A live half-time concert and post-game fireworks are also a part of the package.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/09/17/seeing-is-believing-for-new-westminster-hyacks-dual-threat-standout-matt-seymour/feed/0Matt ShowardtsumuraProvince Sports Radio: Ed Willes on the NFL’s reign at the ‘forefront of the sports discussion’http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/09/04/province-sports-radio-ed-willes-on-the-nfls-reign-at-the-forefront-of-the-sports-discussion/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/09/04/province-sports-radio-ed-willes-on-the-nfls-reign-at-the-forefront-of-the-sports-discussion/#commentsThu, 04 Sep 2014 21:27:06 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=162189]]>With the beginning of the NFL season on Thursday night, Ed Willes has trekked down the I-5 to witness it all in the Emerald City.

The Seahawks are the defending Super Bowl champions and they get to raise the curtain on the 2014 campaign.

There’s plenty of on-field chatter to dig through, but there’s plenty about the off-field spectacle that is the National Football League to talk about as well.
Willes is joined by Patrick Johnston and Jonathan McDonald to look at the business of the league, whether things like domestic abuse and concussion nightmares really have any impact on the league’s brand – and whether they even care.

Plus, Pete Carroll is always an amazing topic; he’s created a culture of winning in Seattle that’s been talked about plenty, but there’s still more to look at: Willes reveals some interesting tidbits in Carroll’s musical tastes.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/09/04/province-sports-radio-ed-willes-on-the-nfls-reign-at-the-forefront-of-the-sports-discussion/feed/0Richard Shermanpericoslink-identitiesThe 2 O’Clock: The Richard Sherman signing a smart one, on and off the field, for Seahawkshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/05/07/the-2-oclock-the-richard-sherman-signing-a-smart-one-on-and-off-the-field-for-seahawks/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/05/07/the-2-oclock-the-richard-sherman-signing-a-smart-one-on-and-off-the-field-for-seahawks/#commentsWed, 07 May 2014 21:39:07 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=151932Are you smarter than a second-grader?

I ask myself that question, quietly, on occasion, when I’m looking over my seven-year-old’s homework and identify something he might not have done quite correctly.

“Matty, are you sure about this one?”

“Yes, Dad. …

]]>Are you smarter than a second-grader?

I ask myself that question, quietly, on occasion, when I’m looking over my seven-year-old’s homework and identify something he might not have done quite correctly.

“Matty, are you sure about this one?”

“Yes, Dad. I’m right.”

“Hmmmm, I don’t know. What about this?”

“Dad, you’re wrong. Look!”

And I’m wrong. Just like that, I can no longer achieve a perfect mark in Grade 2.

Now, you could just chalk that up to me perhaps not focusing. We adults are distracted, right? Can’t always be on the ball, right?

But Tuesday confirmed for me that it’s a good thing I finished high school, because I would clearly struggle if I had to go back and do it all over again. The smartypants in Grade 5, Izzy, had her French play. She was Papa, a poor sucker who gets taken advantage of by his naughty children. They replace his shampoo with caramel.

* shakes fist at naughty children *

The play was very funny. The girls, who all combined to write the script, were fantastic. But I realized, as I sat there smiling and laughing and nodding, that I had little idea what they were saying. That for all the years of French immersion and Alliance Francaise classes and trips to French-speaking places, I was lost. The 10-year-olds? Not so lost. The 45-year-old? Smiling and laughing and nodding and, frankly, edging into senility

Are you smarter than a second-grader? Maybe, just barely. Are you smarter than a fifth-grader? Are you kidding me?

But — aha! — do I ever know my sports! Here’s the 2 O’Clock:

TALKING THE TALK, WALKING THE WALK

Richard Sherman, the oft-controversial and outstanding cornerback for the Seattle Seahawks, has signed a four-year extension and is now booked to work for the Super Bowl champs through the 2018 season.

He announced the news on his blog today, and was classy about it. I was interested to see that he had no hesitation telling people exactly what the terms were, since athletes usually won’t bring up the numbers. Sherman, brought up in a working-class household in Los Angeles, is guaranteed $40 million, which is quite lovely news and makes him the highest-paid CB in the NFL.

And here’s some nice timing, with the start of the NFL draft on Thursday: a Sherman spot with the Oberto beef jerky people:

Frankly, I’m delighted for Sherman. I’m intrigued by athletes who are complex people. Sherman’s a complex person who also knows how to put bums in seats, who knows how to endear himself to those crazies down the I-5 who pack CenturyLink Field. Here’s hoping he has a long, outstanding career.

WHO ERRED ON HAIR DEBATE?

Fascinating story last week about the baseball coach in Pincher Creek, Alta., who asked his teenage player to cut his hair.

The kid, Liam Nazarek, didn’t want to. After all, he was growing out his hair for a cancer charity; that hair would end up being cut off and made into a wig for someone who’s had the misfortune to lose their hair.

But the coach, Bryan McKenzie, had his rules. And he wasn’t going to bend his rules for Liam.

So Liam’s mom recorded a nice little chat she had with the coach.

Now, the former pro pitcher Dirk Hayhurst has weighed in. And it appears he’s siding with Coach McKenzie, who Keith Olbermann highlighted in his regular “worst person in the sports world” feature. But Hayhurst also isn’t too happy with Liam’s mom, and thinks this could set off a wave of angry-parents-who-are-going-to-get-back-at-the-coach videos.

As for Olbermann, you have to take what he says with a grain of salt. After all, you’ll recall he said the Canucks’ Tom Sestito was one of the sports world’s worst people (about two minutes into this video):

Although you do have to give Olbermann for referring, two minutes into this next video, to John Tortorella as the “soon-to-be-ex-coach of the Vancouver Canucks.” Intriguing call to make in mid-January; it took the Canucks three-and-a-half months to get that done:

INDEED, NETS MIGHT BE NUTS

When, among other things, you put out a newspaper, you hope that the people doing the editing and the layout take that extra five seconds to make sure everything is good.

Then, just 24 hours after my return, I was off to a funeral in Edmonton. For Cousin Teddy, who I’ve written about previously on the 10 O’Clock. Teddy was 95, a doctor who never really retired, who you always went to for advice, who latched on to email and the web in his 80’s and, right up until his final email, enjoyed sending jokes — sometimes inappropriate, surprisingly so for a 95-year-old retired doctor.

Since the 10 O’Clock — and its partner, the 2 O’Clock — are almost entirely sports-focused, I’ll share a quick tale about a sports-related moment at Teddy’s funeral.

First there was the service. Then there was the burial. Then we were back to the synagogue, where the seven days of mourning began. There was a brief evening service, in a small prayer room in the basement of the synagogue. There were, perhaps, 30 or so people there. And in the middle of it, while the rabbi was saying some prayer that praises God, some guy’s cell phone went off. Everyone in the room immediately identified the ring tone: the original Hockey Night in Canada theme. (Definitely not the newer TSN version. Most definitely not.) I looked around. The guy took the cell phone out of his pocket and looked at the screen. He didn’t frantically hit the mute button or throw it against a wall, as most people would during, well, a funeral. He slowly stood up, turned and walked out of the room, the familiar tune following him the whole way.

I looked around. People were smiling, but mainly looking down at their feet. Which is when the rabbi said, “That’s my favourite song of all-time.” The place cracks up. An unexpected, welcome moment of levity on an otherwise difficult day.

Here’s the 10 O’Clock:

THE GR8 ONE GRATES

Can the Washington Capitals ever win a Stanley Cup with Alex Ovechkin captaining the team?

Better yet, can they even make the playoffs with Ovie? They’ve reached the postseason six straight years, which seems surprising until you recall that they were pretty much the only team of any sort of quality in the now-defunct Southeast Division.

Richard Sherman is a divisive character, no doubt about it. But that’s what happens when he’s one of the rare NFL players who will actually speak his mind, and who dares to wade into issues, such as race, that most would never consider going anywhere near.

Sherman grew up in Watts, a tough neighbourhood in Los Angeles. Jackson grew up nearby, and the boys played baseball together, coached by Jackson’s dad. And Sherman argues that you don’t just turn your back on the people you grew up with just because they haven’t been as successful as you have.

Interesting stuff. And sifting through some of the nearly 3,000 comments below the story reinforces what seems to be an eternal divide south of the border.

FRANK GILLIS, BONEHEAD BOOMER

Finally, a couple of quick hits about sports radio.

First, Canucks GM Mike Gillis was on TEAM 1040 this morning, his usual weekly appearance, and was much more animated than he normally is. (Usually, it sounds like the gig is a serious chore. And by that, I mean it’s a pain and a hassle.) You can listen to it here, and visit our White Towel blog shortly for Jim Jamieson’s take — and later for some added analysis from Ben Kuzma.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/04/03/the-10-oclock-can-the-capitals-ever-win-with-ovie/feed/0ovechkinapril2014jonnymac68The 10 O’Clock: When Kevin Costner makes his appearance on Super Bowl Sunday, I will cry like a schoolgirl. Gua. Ran. Teed.http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/30/the-10-oclock-when-kevin-costner-makes-his-appearance-on-super-bowl-sunday-i-will-cry-like-a-schoolgirl-gua-ran-teed/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/30/the-10-oclock-when-kevin-costner-makes-his-appearance-on-super-bowl-sunday-i-will-cry-like-a-schoolgirl-gua-ran-teed/#commentsThu, 30 Jan 2014 17:52:41 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=142870Last night on TSN, before the panel sent us all over to Rogers Arena for that distinctly underwhelming tribute to the Vancouver Canucks’ and Chicago Blackhawks’ Olympians (I know, I know, what were they supposed to do? Pirouette around the …]]>Last night on TSN, before the panel sent us all over to Rogers Arena for that distinctly underwhelming tribute to the Vancouver Canucks’ and Chicago Blackhawks’ Olympians (I know, I know, what were they supposed to do? Pirouette around the ice?), they mentioned that the last outdoor game of the season, at B.C. Place, is just over a month away.

So now I look outside, and it’s miserable and it’s wet, and I wonder about that game that they refer to as an “outdoor game.” Just as there’s been obsession about the weather in New Jersey for the last, oh, umpteen weeks, it’s about to happen here. That first 14-day forecast leading up to March 2 will be looked at really closely, because that tilt between the Canucks and Ottawa Senators might not be much of an outdoor contest at all.

We’ll see. Sunny and cool would be excellent. Or, as the game at Dodger Stadium showed us, sunny and warm could be excellent too.

On with the 10 O’Clock:

COSTNER LEADS BROWNS TO PROMISED LAND!

The poor Cleveland Browns. They haven’t been in the NFL championship game since 1969 — so long ago that it wasn’t until the following year that the NFL’s “modern era” was established.

Yes, Kevin Costner as the GM of the Cleveland Browns, which might not be a bad idea, when you think about it. I mean, in real life. He has a seriously good track record with starring in sports movies. Bull Durham! Field of Dreams (with that scene that makes me cry every time)! Tin Cup! Surely the front office of the Browns could use someone with a good track record. The Browns have missed the NFL playoffs 11 straight years.

What an interesting couple of weeks it’s been for Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman. Interesting, to say the least.

But it’s always interesting to see where someone comes from, and it is certainly interesting (hmmmm, fourth use of interesting) to note that Sherman’s dad has been a garbage man for the past quarter-century and has no big plans to live off his son’s success. This NFL Films mini-doc was done in the fall, before things got really interesting.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/30/the-10-oclock-when-kevin-costner-makes-his-appearance-on-super-bowl-sunday-i-will-cry-like-a-schoolgirl-gua-ran-teed/feed/0kevincostnerdraftdayjonnymac68The 2 O’Clock: Is Torts the most-missed Canuck? Plus the Sherman Report and latest on Super Bowl weather!http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/28/the-2-oclock-is-torts-the-most-missed-canuck-plus-the-sherman-report-and-latest-on-super-bowl-weather/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/28/the-2-oclock-is-torts-the-most-missed-canuck-plus-the-sherman-report-and-latest-on-super-bowl-weather/#commentsTue, 28 Jan 2014 23:02:47 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=142687So I just got off the phone with hockey writer Jason Botchford. He joined Patrick Johnston and me for Province Sports Radio this afternoon and I couldn’t help but ask him what he thinks the Canucks are missing most these …]]>So I just got off the phone with hockey writer Jason Botchford. He joined Patrick Johnston and me for Province Sports Radio this afternoon and I couldn’t help but ask him what he thinks the Canucks are missing most these days.

One of the things he talks about is how he just can’t be an anonymous player. He enjoys being the show. And brings up what he did last year in New Orleans, which might reflect a man who has a healthy ego but also reflects a man who isn’t afraid to put himself out there and even be self-deprecating:

Whether you believe it or not, here’s Sherman’s first of 10 points: “No one has ever made himself great by showing how small someone else is. That’s not mine. It belongs to Irvin Himmel. Somebody tweeted it at me after the NFC Championship Game. If I could pass a lesson on to the kids it would be this: Don’t attack anybody. I shouldn’t have attacked Michael Crabtree the way I did. You don’t have to put anybody else down to make yourself bigger.”

I love the story on John Bateman, a meteorologist who works for the NFL. He’s under some serious pressure, and acknowledges it as he describes how every morning during Super Bowl Week, he’s forced to face a boatload of league executives who pretty much expect him to either play God or, at very least, be in constant touch with God so they know what to expect Sunday evening at MetLife Stadium and how they’ll deal with it. Marc Santora of the New York Times writes how weathermen everywhere are being scrutinized right about now.

The ongoing issue about the weather, and whether New Jersey was the right or wrong place to host a Super Bowl, provides endless amusement. Wasn’t it 12 months ago that the power went out at the Superdome, causing a 34-minute delay? See, even in a supposedly incredible Super Bowl city, not everything goes as planned.

How that video wasn’t a bigger viral hit, I have no idea. Might have helped if they’d posted it as “Super Bowl,” which is what the game is called, and not “Superbowl.” (Small pet peeve. Allow me.)

‘MR. LOMBARDI, THIS IS YOUR TROPHY. YES, WE KNOW IT’S NOT AS GOOD AS THE STANLEY CUP’

During the 2010 Olympics here in Vancouver, I met the New York Daily News’ Filip Bondy. It was a very brief chat — I really just wanted to say hello — but I was thrilled. I’ve always been a big fan.

Writes Bondy: “It is impossible to ignore Lombardi’s influence at this event. The play by Eric Simonson, Lombardi, may have ended its run on Broadway, but there are many other reminders of the man. The New Jersey Turnpike rest stop bearing his name stands just four miles from MetLife Stadium in Ridgefield. Outside Camp Alvernia on Long Island, a small metal sign marks where Lombardi practised his own football in high school. He played at Fordham, coached the Giants as an assistant. Lombardi belongs as much to New York as he does to Green Bay.”

SKITTISH SKITTLES SPOKESMAN SKIPS SUPER SILLINESS

Marshawn Lynch made a not unusually weird appearance at Super Bowl media day. He stuck around for just a few minutes, then took off. He’s been fined by the NFL before for his completely content willingness to scoff at the league’s rules about media access, and he’ll no doubt get fined again, but he doesn’t care. What’s a few thousand dollars? (Hmmm, but can you blame him for wanting to be anywhere but the circus of media day?)

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/28/the-2-oclock-is-torts-the-most-missed-canuck-plus-the-sherman-report-and-latest-on-super-bowl-weather/feed/0tortorellapresuspension011814jonnymac68The 10 O’Clock: Manning fights fear of ‘old folks’ allergies,’ drives Broncos to Super Bowl win (well, sort of)http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/28/the-10-oclock-manning-fights-fear-of-old-folks-allergies-drives-broncos-to-super-bowl-win-well-sort-of/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/28/the-10-oclock-manning-fights-fear-of-old-folks-allergies-drives-broncos-to-super-bowl-win-well-sort-of/#commentsTue, 28 Jan 2014 17:50:41 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=142636So I was chatting with a guy last night who’s up there among the bigwigs of the Canadian tennis scene, and he mentioned that he was about to fly to Tokyo for this weekend’s Davis Cup tilt between Canada and …]]>So I was chatting with a guy last night who’s up there among the bigwigs of the Canadian tennis scene, and he mentioned that he was about to fly to Tokyo for this weekend’s Davis Cup tilt between Canada and Japan.

Easy peasy, I suggested. Canada was a semifinalist last year. They were outstanding in two showdowns at UBC, beating Spain and Italy. Surely they’ll get by Japan, whose only player of note is world No. 18 Kei Nishikori.

Nope, my guy said. There are worries in the Canadian camp. You might recall that Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil had to pull out of the Australian Open in the third round, where he would have played the tournament’s eventual winner Stan Wawrinka. A nagging back injury. That didn’t stop Pospisil’s world ranking climbing to No. 25, which has never been higher.

In the last few days, Pospisil reports that he’s been seeing Randy Celebrini at the Fortius Centre in Burnaby, rehabbing. And now he’s landed in Tokyo, ready to roll as the No. 2 singles player behind Milos Raonic.

But this is no slam-dunk for Canada. They’ll be watching him closely. Frank Dancevic, who performed heroically for Canada exactly a year ago against Spain, could step in. But they’re worried. They’d love nothing more than to get by Japan and have a shot at either the Netherlands or, more likely, world No. 1 Czech Republic. Which could possibly be played at UBC.

Last year’s edition was a smash success: 45 million views, though it probably should have had 10 times as many. So here is this year’s, and it’s mesmerizing:

I am sorry, but there’s something absolutely hysterical about watching a Peyton Manning post-game interview and having him answer the question, “What are some things that could gross you out?”

Manning’s answer: “Umm, old folks’ allergies. That could sure do it. Or just having somebody yucky like you. Umm, denim golf jeans. Voldemort, yes I said Voldemort. Doo-dads that scratch the wood. Like, scratchy things, you know?” Denim golf jeans? Priceless!

LOVE FOR RICHARD SHERMAN, HATE FOR RICHARD SHERMAN

As always, the New York Times delivers excellence. In the past nine days, there’s been plenty of talk about Seattle Seahawks cornerback Richard Sherman. How outspoken he is. How mouthy he can be. How smart and determined and focused he is.

But Sherman is as unique as you might think he is. And he studied some of the world’s most prominent athletes — everything about them.

“His fascination was that (Muhammad) Ali was able to talk trash and be the best at what he did but never cross that line,” Sherman’s father, Kevin, told the Times. “At the end of his career, everybody was still talking about him. What more can you ask for?”

Some people, of course, say that Sherman has crossed the line. Others disagree. It makes for a fascinating debate. And it certainly seems like people might be talking about Sherman for years to come. We’ll see.

Here’s the latest — what they’re predicting for Sunday’s game, where clearly snow will play a factor at MetLife Stadium:

So, if you’re a Seahawks fan, you’re emboldened by the videogame version of Russell Wilson not being flustered by being down by two scores. And you love Marshawn Lynch busting some tackles to strut into the endzone and cut the deficit to two points. And Wilson scoring a two-point convert to take the game to overtime.

And if you’re a Seahawks fan, that’s where the excitement ends.

Incidentally, Madden 25 is not produced out of EA’s Burnaby studio; it comes from Orlando, Fla.

AND FINALLY, SOCHI

Nine days from the start of the Sochi Winter Olympics seems as good a time as any to capitalize on national pride. Under Armour’s doing just that, with an ad that smartly combines the thrill of snowboard cross — Canada’s Maelle Ricker took gold in the women’s Olympic competition, while compatriot Mike Robertson scored silver in the men’s — with the 1972 Summit Series.

Say what? Combining the Summit Series and snowboard cross? Well it works, if you just let your imagination go.

Pretty cool. Of course, there’s a bit of an agenda here. There’s always an agenda. Under Armour’s in business to sell clothes — clothes that will keep you warm and dry. But the 90 seconds they’ve produced in the video are smart and inspiring and will get you going. Though I must confess, snowboard cross terrifies me. I’d be looking over my shoulder constantly; it wouldn’t be fun.

See you at the 2 O’Clock!

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/28/the-10-oclock-manning-fights-fear-of-old-folks-allergies-drives-broncos-to-super-bowl-win-well-sort-of/feed/0peytonmanningmediaday2014jonnymac68The 2 O’Clock: If you win the Super Bowl, I’ll send you some crap; if I win the Super Bowl, you send me some crap. Perfect.http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/27/the-2-oclock-if-you-win-the-super-bowl-ill-send-you-some-crap-if-i-win-the-super-bowl-you-send-me-some-crap-perfect/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/27/the-2-oclock-if-you-win-the-super-bowl-ill-send-you-some-crap-if-i-win-the-super-bowl-you-send-me-some-crap-perfect/#commentsMon, 27 Jan 2014 22:43:43 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=142543So I was thinking about the traditional mayor’s bet this morning and I fell asleep just thinking about it.

“If you win, no matter how unlikely that may be, I will raise your flag in front of our city hall …

]]>So I was thinking about the traditional mayor’s bet this morning and I fell asleep just thinking about it.

“If you win, no matter how unlikely that may be, I will raise your flag in front of our city hall — it won’t matter, because no one ever looks at the flag in front of city hall — and I will wear your jersey for five minutes at a council meeting no one attends.”

Really, that’s about it. It doesn’t get any sexier than that.

Probably 10 minutes after I was thinking about Mayor Boresville and his counterpart Mayor Doofus, word came down from the Mile High and Emerald cities: another heaping serving of predictable.

If the Denver Broncos win, Seattle mayor Ed Murray will send Denver mayor Michael Hancock some salmon, Dungeness crab, a bicycle made by Seattle’s Rodriguez Bicycles and a piece of blown glass made by renowned artist Dale Chihuly.

Mayor Hancock has hardly stepped up. If the Seattle Seahawks win, the Denver head cheese will send some green chile and a hoodie, ball cap and skis made by Denver’s Icelantic Skis.

At least there’s this: Province editor-in-chief Wayne Moriarty informed me this morning that the directors of the Seattle Art Museum and Denver Art Museum have waged works of art. Say what?

True. If the Seahawks win, Christoph Heinrich of the DAM will loan The Broncho Buster, an 1895 bronze piece by the renowned sculptor Frederic Remington, to the SAM. (“The bronze horse symbolizes the spirit and tenacity of the Wild West. Popular from the time of its creation, The Broncho Buster stands today as an icon of the region and is thought of as the first action bronze of a western hero.”)

If the Broncos win, the SAM will send a “majestic Native American mask reminiscent of a mighty Seahawk” to the DAM. Meaning what? “This Nuxalk mask (c. 1880) shows the elegant elongation of the bird beak, a sensitive and human-like rendering of the eye/socket/brow area, with painted embellishments on the surface in black, red and blue. The open mouth suggests the ferocity of this bird of prey, possible a supernatural ‘man-eater.’ Shredded red cedar bark symbolizes the mythical arena in which the dance-dramas would be enacted.”

These are three-month loans and, in case you’re wondering, “All shipping and expenses will be paid by the city that loses the big game.”

There’s some decent trash talk coming from Heinrich and the SAM’s Kimerly Rorschach (Rorschach? Outstanding name for an art museum boss!). Which I love. As my colleague Paul Chapman pointed out, those seem to be the last places you’d associate with football. In fact, if you hated football and wanted to make a statement, you might spend this coming Sunday afternoon at the SAM or the DAM. And not in a jersey. Prediction: The Metropolitan Museum of Art will NOT be crawling with football fans later this week.

So now, Imoo and his frequent collaborators Marie Hui and Arielle Tuliao have put together a little Seahawks-themed ditty that sounds a whole lot like Katy Perry’s Soar but has its own distinct Pacific Northwest influence. Like these lyrics that open the song:

“He never bites his tongue or holds his breath/Likes to rock the boat and make a mess/Doesn’t sit quietly, won’t agree politely/Plays in the back/The corner’s in his spot/Dares you to throw, and see what you’ve got/He’ll stand up everyone, he’ll yell at everything/Can’t hold him down ’cause he’ll get up/Richard Sherman’s brushing off the dust/You hear his voice, you hear that sound/Like thunder gonna shake the ground.”

As with anything on YouTube, you’ll get reaction that swings wildly. So it hasn’t taken long to read “Beautiful in every way” from one viewer, to “These really need to stop. You just made me hate a team I’ve been a fan of for 25 years” from another. Yowza!

DON’T LIKE US? THEN ENJOY PENNSYLVANIA

Perhaps the best piece I’ve tripped across today is the column from the Newark Star-Ledger’s Steve Politi. Politi is smiling in his mugshot, so I am sure he is a very happy man. But he makes it clear in “7 tips for Super Bowl visitors to stay on our good side in N.J.” that he won’t take any crap from you if you’re planning to visit New Jersey this week.

Politi’s advice if you’re going to complain about the weather? “You want to complain about the weather, go right ahead. Just don’t complain to us about the weather. We aren’t the brainiacs who put the game here. It’s early February in New Jersey. We live in a constant rotation of ice, snow and slush. You want to talk more about it? Here, take this shovel and get to work on my driveway. I’ll be right back.”

And if you’re going to make Jersey jokes? Hoo boy, good luck: “‘What exit?’ HA HA HA! Never heard THAT one before. Here, I’ll tell you what exit: Go find Exit 6 on the Turnpike. Then keep going for a while into you see a sign that says ‘Welcome to Pennsylvania.'” Right. Got it.

I’m not sure just how cool the Fiero is, or was. I remember a kid having one at my high school, back around 1985, and some people thinking she was super cool, others thinking she was a big poser. We were a divided people.

The only thing I could think to tell my daughter was that I remember what would happen when the Fieros would start to break down. The most obvious symptom of decline: the headlights. You’ll recall they’d pop up out of the hood when turned on. But when the car started to suffer, only one would pop up and down. Like the Fiero was in a permanent state of winking. My daughter thought that was quite funny.

And then we saw it, this morning. Driving to school, we saw a parked Fiero. One headlight up, one down. The poor eye that will never again rest. We laughed, thought it was hilarious, considered stopping to take a picture. We will, no doubt, go back to do just that. But then the weirdest thing: not even one block later, another Fiero parked. This time, both headlights hidden.

But what are the chances, in 2014, of seeing two Fieros on the same block? The world never ceases to amaze.

As soon as I saw this, I knew I’d be interested in in. After all, I’ve been to about 10 Seahawks games at CenturyLink Field over the years, and whether it’s been the second game of the regular season or the NFC Championship game, the sound is deafening.

Bledsoe’s point is an interesting one: Now there’s something to cheer about. He writes that a typical January will find Seattle on the outside looking in, whether it’s the Seahawks or the misery of Mariners fans or fans of the long-since-gone SuperSonics.

It’s an entertaining read. Like this part: “There’s a reason we are living and dying with this team. We see our selves in all of them. In the way that the Steelers carry the tough steeltown roots of Pittsburgh, or the way that the Saints symbolized the rebirth of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, the Seahawks represent every time Seattle has felt slighted, forgotten about, laughed at, or been labeled by a writer as a city that’s one-dimensional as grunge music, or coffee, or Microsoft. This team makes up for countless times we’ve been underestimated or put into a box. The city needs these Seahawks.”

Incidentally, I agree but only to a point. Several years ago, there was no Marshawn Lynch and there was no Russell Wilson. There was Matt Hasselbeck and Nate Burleson and Patrick Kerney and Marcus Trufant and I remember, just four or five years ago, how few games the Seahawks won. And that didn’t seem to make a difference at the Clink. The fans didn’t care. They were still going to try to make life difficult for visiting teams. And they succeeded in doing so, perhaps more so than the Seahawks did.

Meanwhile, you have to appreciate the enthusiasm of Teddy Bear the Porcupine:

What an interesting path Alexander has taken. Fully aware that most NFL players go broke within a couple of years of retirement, the wealthy Alexander, Baker writes, has a big home on a big property but it’s modest by NFL superstar standards. And he has taken several years to make sure all aspects of his life are “healthy.”

Only now does Alexander think about a career back in pro football. But it wouldn’t be as a coach. It would be something a bit more emotional, a bit more involved with the players away from the game. Really, the things he’s worked on so hard since he stepped away after the 2008 season.

Says Alexander: “A natural fit for me would be to put my arms around some of the rookies and even some of the guys who are some of the elite players and make a little more money. I’d try to help them walk through all of it. Not only the league, but the fact that it’s almost over. I’d want to show them how you become healthy when you leave.’’

Now, it’s hard to say if he’s completely serious, but he may well be. Adams grew up in Paterson, N.J., about 20 kilometres from MetLife Stadium. Paterson is a place where, according to New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz, you were more likely to die than earn your high school diploma. But Adams survived Paterson, even if he never knew his dad and his mom died just after he reached the NFL.

“It can be almost like a cancer,” Adams told the Denver Post’s Mike Kiszla. “And I say that because the negativity in that place can be like a snowball rolling downhill.”

And King has taken note of a subdued but happy Richard Sherman so far. At the opening press conference, Sherman was not combative. He was what King called “the Stanford Richard Sherman, not the Fifteen-Seconds-After-The-Game Richard Sherman.”

Then, when the press conference was over, King — who’s gotten to know Sherman well as the cornerback has been writing an occasional column for MMQB — told him that on media day, there would be 300 reporters, instead of just the 75 who were there Sunday.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/27/the-10-oclock-seahawks-fans-didnt-just-get-loud-this-year-the-caffeine-has-powered-them-for-years/feed/0seahawksrussellwilsontosuperbowljonnymac68The 2 O’Clock: Where have you gone, Steve Nash? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you. OK, it’s just me. And the doll.http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/23/the-2-oclock-where-have-you-gone-steve-nash-a-nation-turns-its-lonely-eyes-to-you/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/23/the-2-oclock-where-have-you-gone-steve-nash-a-nation-turns-its-lonely-eyes-to-you/#commentsThu, 23 Jan 2014 23:32:53 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=142144Are you familiar with the McFarlane action dolls?

I’ve got one on my desk. Still in the box. It’s Steve Nash … of the Dallas Mavericks. Yes, Steve Nash of the Dallas Mavericks. In pristine condition. Still inside the plastic. …

]]>Are you familiar with the McFarlane action dolls?

I’ve got one on my desk. Still in the box. It’s Steve Nash … of the Dallas Mavericks. Yes, Steve Nash of the Dallas Mavericks. In pristine condition. Still inside the plastic. I’m not sure how true to life the doll is — Steve’s a fine-looking man, but this doll has the face of Cro-Magnon man. Yes, almost exactly like that. Rather uncomplimentary.

But as I look at this doll — the muscle-bound Nash set to dish off another sweet pass — it makes me wonder about the real Steve Nash. He’s been injured forever, right? Can you keep track of his injuries? Normally quite active on social media, his one tweet to his nearly two million followers in the past five weeks came on Monday, after the Nash-less Los Angeles Lakers beat the Toronto Raptors: “I love playing in Toronto. It hurts more to miss this one.”

Nash has been in Vancouver, trying to get back on track. The two-time NBA MVP has played six games this season, but none since Nov. 10. He managed just 50 games the previous season, his two seasons in Los Angeles truly a disaster. And in two weeks, Victoria’s favourite son will be 40.

That match goes at 12:30 a.m. tonight/tomorrow morning on TSN, and I’m trying to figure out how I can reasonably watch it. Thanks to playing hockey last night, I had five hours of sleep. I probably shouldn’t be attempting to stay up to watch. So do I go to sleep early — say, 8:30, 9 — then wake up a few hours later? Is this kind of quiet internal conversation going on all over the Western Hemisphere right about now?

And Kevin Mitchell of The Guardian, who writes: “Because of their CVs and the dwindling time left to them – Nadal, 27, leads Federer, 33 next birthday, by 22 wins to 10 overall – the result will probably condemn the loser to second place in the history of the game. This fight is for the championship of each other, as someone once said of Muhammad Ali’s third bout with Joe Frazier, the Thrilla In Manila. They do not have many punches left to throw.”

BRACKET GOLD LEADS TO GOLD BRACKET

I haven’t had a chance this week to highlight Warren Buffett’s latest venture: to give $1 billion to anyone who can correctly guess the winners of each game during the NCAA March Madness tournament. In advance of the tournament, of course. You fill out the bracket, and you need to fill it out correctly. All 63 games. In advance. Without knowing who’s playing who beyond the first round. Which is super hard to do.

“Showmanship is exciting. Showmanship is what we tune in for. It’s only later, when we start feeling guilty about it, when we start trying to impose real life on sports again, that we start harping on ‘sportsmanship.’ It’s a card we play when we want to feel superior. Like we’re above it all. But we are so, so not. We are the biggest hypocrites of all. When our team wins over our friend’s team, we rub their face in it. Bragging rights are the point. We don’t care how our team plays, not really: We just want them to win. We don’t hold back. It’s when the other guy, the one that just beat us, starts strutting that we get upset. That’s when we suddenly start crowing about ‘sportsmanship.'”

By the 2015 season, all Major League Baseball stadiums will have metal detector screening facilities. No one who enters a ballpark will enter without going through some seriously heavy security. Which reminds me of the scene on Sunday when I was about to enter CenturyLink Field in Seattle. There was a couple ahead of me, and the woman didn’t realize she couldn’t take her purse with her into the stadium. She needed to have one of those clear plastic bags where you can see everything inside. So she got to security, and the guard turned her around. Where she was going, I don’t know. But she was pissed. Perhaps not so much that she was being sent away, but because her friend/boyfriend/husband just blithely marched on without her, which seems a surefire early sign of breakup. “That’s just f_____g great,” she said as she turned and pushed her way past me. Hoo boy.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/23/the-2-oclock-where-have-you-gone-steve-nash-a-nation-turns-its-lonely-eyes-to-you/feed/0stevenashnewlakerjonnymac68The 10 O’Clock: Why, Genie, why? Of all the guys you could have named! Plus … the Sherman Report!http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/21/the-10-oclock-why-genie-why-of-all-the-guys-you-could-have-named-plus-the-sherman-report/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/21/the-10-oclock-why-genie-why-of-all-the-guys-you-could-have-named-plus-the-sherman-report/#commentsTue, 21 Jan 2014 17:55:15 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=141864There are so many interesting stories this morning that there’s no need for any introduction. So, on with the 10 O’Clock.

YOU COULD HAVE SAID “DRAKE!” OR “MICHAEL CERA!” OR “RYAN GOSLING!” WHY, GENIE, WHY!

Frankly, she’s the most exciting of the emerging Canadian tennis players right now. Not Davis Cup heroes Milos Raonic or Vasek Pospisil. It is Bouchard, who seems to have all the tools needed to be a contender.

But my god, that post-match interview Monday night. When she was asked if she could date one person, who would it be? After laughing, and struggling to process the question, Bouchard blurted out “Justin Bieber.” Did you say “No! No! No! No!” before you saw the Canadian fan in the crowd at Rod Laver waving frantically at Bouchard to reconsider?

Sadly, by now Bieber knows what happened. And Bouchard and her family better pray that he just laughs it off, and that they never, ever meet in a hundred million years.

He goes on: “I had absolutely no problem with what Sherman said, and to draw conclusions on his ‘classiness’ is a bit far-fetched. Sherman was confronted with a microphone immediately after he made the biggest play of his career against his team’s biggest rival. He was honest, and, with what I have seen and heard while being around soccer players and other pro athletes, Sherman said what many say. He just said it on live television.”

“There’s a lot of different storylines with Richard and reasons for why this blew up, but I think a really important one here is race. This seethes into this narrative of race in America and race logic. Think about who Richard Sherman is. He’s a kid from Compton who graduated second in his class and went to Stanford to earn a degree in communications. He’s at a critical point in his football career, makes a huge play, then a reporter sticks a mike in his face. What does he do? He not only speaks, he shouts. And now you have an angry, almost violent black man, in a very passionate moment, yelling on national television.”

How about this novel twist on the old interview?

Fabulous. For something a bit more subtle, check out this documentary that was done on Sherman. Before one just assumes he’s insane, this is worth watching.

After the NFC Championship game was over on Sunday, I left CenturyLink Field and headed into Seattle’s downtown, where my buddy took me into the 88 Keys dueling-pianos bar. It was like this, only much more entertaining. And less creepy than a bunch of people dressed up as Santa.

Anyway, there I ran into Cam Charron, the Vancouver hockey writer and advanced stats man who used to write for us here at Province Sports. He’d just taken in the Seahawks-49ers game with his dad, Tim, and they were very, very happy. Longtime Seahawks fans, they had that shared look of contentment. Cam hugged lots of strangers. It was good.

When I returned to work on Monday morning, my colleague Patrick Johnston asked me if I’d seen Cam’s commercial. Say what? Well, turns out that Cam, like the rest of us, was annoyed by the Expedia commercial that aired repeatedly over the holiday. You know, the one with the screeching violin and the horrible children. Annoyed enough that the prolific tweeter decided to condemn Expedia for it. He wasn’t the only one. But he was the one that “Scott” from Expedia.ca decided to contact. Check it out.

The music? Sensational. And when Cam kicks the violin Scott’s reaction is perfect.

Nicely done, Cam. Nicely done, Expedia. See? Social media can be for good.

WHO SAYS THE OILERS HAVE DISAPPOINTED? NOT PEOPLE WHO LIVE NEAR THE ENGLISH CHANNEL

Is Ralph Krueger‘s NHL coaching resume destined to start and stop with the truncated 2012/13 season?

Could be. After all, the former Edmonton Oilers head coach has caught on with Southampton of the Premier League. Yes, that’s right. Premier League soccer. Southampton is in the middle of the standings — amazingly, just a few points back of legendary Manchester United — but it’s been a time of turbulence for ownership and management. Lots of changes. A threat that owner Katharina Liebherr — daughter of the former owner, Swiss industrialist Markus Liebherr (sorry, couldn’t resist using the word “industrialist”) — would sell. Huge financial losses. So now there’s a new CEO. And Krueger, who’s an advisor to the coaching staff for Canada’s men’s hockey team at Sochi, will be one of Liebherr’s three deputies. His greatest asset? His motivational-speaking background. His book Teamlife: From Failure to Success.

Here’s a little-seen video of Krueger appearing on The Bachelor. Impressive.

Sorry, I’m wrong. That’s not The Bachelor. Those were the Edmonton Oilers’ Octane Girls. Cool.

This is unusual, considering I attended Sunday’s NFC Championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. There were 68,000-plus people there, and nearly all of them were screaming solidly for three hours — …

]]>I can speak this morning.

This is unusual, considering I attended Sunday’s NFC Championship game between the Seattle Seahawks and San Francisco 49ers. There were 68,000-plus people there, and nearly all of them were screaming solidly for three hours — plus a good chunk of an hour leading up to the game, when CenturyLink Field was already jammed.

Once a year, I take in a Seahawks game. And I’ll yell and yell and yell until the fourth quarter, when I try to yell and it seems that nothing comes out of my mouth.

So I decided to take a different tack on Sunday. Instead of screaming myself hoarse from the get-go, I would wait. Why not. After all, everyone else is doing the yelling. What will my voice add to the din? So all around me, people cupped their hands over their mouths and bellowed, constantly. It was truly deafening. There were several times when I wondered what the noise was doing to my eardrums, when I wondered if it would be a stupid idea to one day take one of my kids to a game. It seems impossible that human beings could make any more noise than what they do in that stadium. Like World War Z without the zombies.

Pacing myself worked. I didn’t start to really yell until the fourth quarter, so when the game ended and we ended up at Seattle’s 88 Keys bar — dueling grand pianos ripping out “Shout,” me doing my best impersonation of Otis Day and the Knights — I had plenty of energy left. And lots of voice. Listening to me today, you’d never know I was in the middle of the insanity yesterday.

And on to the 10 O’Clock …

IT’S RICHARD SHERMAN’S WORLD, WE JUST LIVE IN IT

Richard Sherman is a very talented cornerback — if you weren’t aware of that, he’ll let you know — but his one weakness is a lack of filter.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am all for pro athletes being honest. It’s rare and it’s awfully refreshing. But I don’t think the 49ers’ Michael Crabtree — the victim of Sherman’s game-ending swat of a Colin Kaepernick touchdown pass –is a “sorry receiver.”

Points two through five go as follows: “2. Within seconds people on social media were calling him a fool, a thug, a classless jerk and many worse things. 3. Sherman is black, and so of course there was an undercurrent of race to some — OK, a lot — of the discussion. 4. Sherman graduated second in his class in high school and also graduated from Stanford. So not only is he not a fool, odds are he’s smarter than you and me. 5. His degree from Stanford was in communications … which might explain why, while he seemed to be hollering like a crazy person, he didn’t curse and looked into the camera the whole time.” How good is that?

Sherman says a lot of interesting things in his piece, including making cryptic reference to some history with Crabtree that he invites reporters to ask Crabtree about. And he also writes: “As far as Crabtree being a top-20 NFL receiver, you’d have a hard time making that argument to me. There are a lot of receivers playing good ball out there, and Josh Gordon needed 14 games to produce almost double what Crabtree can do in a full season. And Gordon had Brandon Weeden, Brian Hoyer and Jason Campbell playing quarterback.”

Fascinating. In lauding an opposing receiver, Sherman also slaps three NFL quarterbacks clear across the cheek. Amazing.

BROOK-SY! BROOK-SY! BROOK-SY!

Finally, I figured that I could safely miss the game between the Vancouver Canucks and Calgary Flames on Saturday night. You know, go see American Hustle. What could possibly happen between the mediocre Canucks and the lousy Flames?

Keep in mind that Brooks can be one of Tortorella’s worst critics. This is a columnist who wrote, at the beginning of the New York Rangers’ season, “Ding dong, the witch is dead.” And by witch, we know who he was referring to.

This time? Surprising support.

“Tortorella may have been in the wrong on Saturday in a theoretical, ethereal environment, but in fact did what was necessary in the real world of an NHL that countenances fighting and does not in any manner reward teams who choose to unilaterally disarm.”

That’s the battle cry of “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. 16 time wrestling champion and viewed as one of the best in the history of the (predetermined) ring. Ric Flair was cocky, brash, told it like it was and …

]]>WOOOOOOO!

That’s the battle cry of “The Nature Boy” Ric Flair. 16 time wrestling champion and viewed as one of the best in the history of the (predetermined) ring. Ric Flair was cocky, brash, told it like it was and didn’t care what anyone had to say about it. His promos were legendary, and much has been made of his inspirational speech to fire up the 49ers before their opening playoff game a few weeks ago.

But on Sunday after the NFC Championship game, Seattle Seahawks DB Richard Sherman put ol’ Naitch to shame when he absolutely eviscerated Michael Crabtree in this post game interview.

That is one angry, fired up football player right there. I’m shocked he didn’t challenge the Broncos to have the Super Bowl inside a Steel Cage. Or at least announce he was going to be in the WWE Royal Rumble next Sunday (it’s an off day for the Seahawks, he could make it).

Whether you think it classless or not, it was entertaining as hell. Although it appeared like he was snapping at poor Erin Andrews (he wasn’t), you can understand why Sherman was so emotional. The NFC Championship game was the culmination of a bitter revenge story for him.

But why?

One of the biggest narratives heading into the epic game this weekend was of Sherman and the chip he had on his shoulder regarding the 49ers, their Head Coach Jim Harbaugh and the lack of respect both entities apparently have for him. Sherman’s huge interception-causing deflection in the end zone was the nail in the coffin for the 49ers, and after the play he approached 49ers WR Michael Crabtree, slapped his butt, extended his hand and was met with a pie face.

Sherman was trolling him, obviously, and Crabtree played right into his hands.

Also, it’s nice of him to show his support for The Province Canucks bloggers at the end of it. He emphatically put a period on his statement with an “LOB!”, so The Legion of Blog appreciate the support, sir.

(He was talking about the Legion of Boom… or was he?)

Sherman, the probable NFL “Defensive Player of the Year” definitely subscribes to the “Hit hard, talk harder” mentality, and he put both on display in front of the 12th Man on Sunday. If not for him, Seattle would not be where they are now, and where they are going on February 2nd.

(Best O vs. Best D. Let’s do this!)

It will be Denver vs. Seattle in a fortnight at Metlife Stadium in New York.

Looks like you picked wrong, Nature Boy.

You can follow j.Bow on Twitter (@jBowmancouver). He’s got the Broncos winning in a fortnight. He also loves the word “fortnight”.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2014/01/19/richard-sherman-cuts-epic-post-game-promo-shreds-michael-crabtree/feed/0Sherman+postgame+interviewjbowman85Crabtree pie face(Sherman supports the Canucks, so I can support him in this)(Best O vs. Best D. Let's do this!)Ric-Flair-49ersThe 2 O’Clock: Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree … you’re such a pain in the tuchus. Plus: Seahawks’ Richard Sherman disses Super Bowl!http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/12/18/the-2-oclock-oh-christmas-tree-oh-christmas-tree-youre-such-a-pain-in-the-tuchus-plus-seahawks-richard-sherman-disses-super-bowl/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/12/18/the-2-oclock-oh-christmas-tree-oh-christmas-tree-youre-such-a-pain-in-the-tuchus-plus-seahawks-richard-sherman-disses-super-bowl/#commentsWed, 18 Dec 2013 23:04:50 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=139023Am I the only one who’s perpetually frustrated by the Christmas tree?

No, I didn’t think so. In fact, you know exactly what I’m talking about from the second I said a word.

It’s how the tree stands in the …

]]>Am I the only one who’s perpetually frustrated by the Christmas tree?

No, I didn’t think so. In fact, you know exactly what I’m talking about from the second I said a word.

It’s how the tree stands in the living room. When it arrived last weekend, we marched the tree in and didn’t waste a second putting it up. We settled the Douglas Fir into the stand and stood it up. With the 10-year-old holding one side of the tree and me holding the other, my wife dropped back about a dozen feet and eyed it up and down, even at one point holding her thumbs and forefingers at 90-degree angles like she’s some sort of land surveyor or perhaps Annie Leibowitz.

Straight. The tree was straight. So I dropped under the beast, and started tightening the screws on the stand. Tighten, tighten, tighten. Tighten, tighten, tighten. Excellent. Bolted in. And standing up perfectly.

Until the next day. When my wife informed me that the tree was leaning. Indeed it was, but that happens. It was a quick fix.

On Monday, the tree didn’t move.

On Tuesday, the tree was tilted. This time the other direction from Sunday’s lean. How was it possible? The tree is bolted to the base. It is impossible!

Only it’s not impossible. This time, the 10-year-old stood at a distance, sized it up from various angles. “It’s leaning toward the couch, Dad,” she said. Ninety seconds later: “It’s leaning toward the window, Dad.” And for the next five minutes, I listened to her tell me it was leaning every which way but up.

Finally, success. Covered in sap, needles and a few sappy needles, I emerged. I headed upstairs, and washed the sap off my hands. Not easily done. Not at all.

The Super Bowl city is decided years in advance, and the game is supposed to be played on a neutral site. Teams that make it that far have played through the heat of training camp, winter on the road and in the comfort of domes. Whether their rosters were built for the snow or not, they probably overcame it at some point in the season. The Super Bowl should be a clean slate that showcases the athletes, not the stadium or the city they’re playing in.

That being said, Sherman feels that Seattle, whose CenturyLink Field opened in 2002, should merit hosting the Super Bowl as much as MetLife Stadium, the home of the New York Jets and Giants. But with all the rain in Seattle in February? It’s not about to happen.

Like this video that Thomas did with Sports Illustrated, in Seattle’s Pike Place Market:

That’s awesome. Even when he tells the one guy he plays for the Seahawks, and the guy walks away, thinking Thomas is crazy. Beautiful.

A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD … PLUS CHRISTMAS JEWELRY!

Occasionally I get to chat with Carrie Serwetnyk, a Vancouverite and member of the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame. Serwetnyk is a ball of energy, a delightful and energetic and positive woman who’s a huge advocate for her sport, for women in soccer, and for change. She talks about how girls make up 47 per cent of the registered soccer players in Canada, but can’t believe that, apparently, women make up about one per cent of the chief decision makers for soccer in this country. The women’s national team’s budget, she says, is a fraction of the men’s. And these problems are just a microcosm of the issues facing women across the board. Which is why her Why the Women’s World Cup Matters campaign is trying to do more than just make the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup a spectator event that will come and go and be forgotten. (Check out a column that the Vancouver Sun’s Daphne Bramham wrote about Serwetnyk.)

Great appearance by Serwetnyk earlier this fall on Shaw TV’s The Rush with Fiona Forbes:

I’m not sure, but I think I might just have ruined my Christmas a week before Christmas actually happens. To J.J. Adams, who recommended that I google “Christmas Jammies,” I say, Whyyyyyyyyyy?

LATEST BATTLE FOR BILLIE JEAN

A few days ago, U.S. President Barack Obama appointed 70-year-old tennis legend Billie Jean King to join the U.S. delegation to the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics. The president won’t be attending; neither will a few other world leaders, including the presidents of France and Germany.

In the absence of any declarations or salient political responses to Russia’s anti-LGBT laws from Germany, the US, France, or Poland, it seems reasonable to wonder if, in fact, something else is at play here. Fear of being caught on the wrong side of history? Or a desire to humiliate and isolate Russian President Vladimir Putin for doing virtually everything imaginable to tick off the west, from sheltering Edward Snowden to jailing protestors from Greenpeace to Pussy Riot, to supporting the Syrian and Ukrainian regimes, while posing as the voice of reason in the New York Times?

But why get into all of this nastiness when it’s possible to stay home, remain silent, and have your behavior construed as moral rectitude?

When I look at the list, I’m perfectly happy to see a few particularly young players making the list: Landeskog, Karlsson, Duchene. That’s fantastic. And I’m not surprised to see certain names there, like Crosby, Lundqvist, Kesler — guys who, whether deserved or not, seem to make lots of lists.

But when you scroll through the gallery, one thing stands out: they all pretty much look the same. In fact, only Lecavalier stands out as the one guy not wearing a suit. (Not in the above photo. But in the gallery, he’s looking pretty darn casual, rocking the V-necks and the open collars.) Because, when you think about it, they are all pretty much the same. As my colleague Paul Chapman points out, when leather driving coats are in style, they will all wear leather driving coats. When dark suits are what everyone’s wearing, they’ll all wear dark suits. But no one will look like Don Cherry, or celebrate like Tomas Hertl. Not in the NHL, no way.

The truth is, they should look good. Landeskog, the Avalanche captain, is by far the lowest paid player on the list, with an annual salary of just under one million dollars. Don’t feel sorry for Landeskog: He can still afford lots of suits, because he can make close to another $3 million in performance bonuses. What I’d really like to see? A list of 10 NHL players who vow to never spend more than $1,000 on a suit. A list of 10 NHL players who are still driving their first car. A list of 10 NHL players who’d rather give it away than spend it on themselves. Or here’s a nod to the entitled local hockey professionals of the late-1990s: A list of 10 Canucks who actually pay, actually take out their wallet and hand over money, for a haircut.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/10/23/the-10-oclock-guess-what-rich-hockey-players-can-afford-to-buy-suits-and-richard-sherman-on-concussions-if-you-dont-like-it-stop-watching/feed/0vincentlecavaliersuit.PICjonnymac68The 10 O’Clock: The Alfie breakup is still killing Ottawa. And it’s enough for you to want to send Ottawa to its roomhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/09/16/the-10-oclock-the-alfie-breakup-is-still-killing-ottawa-and-its-enough-for-you-to-want-to-send-ottawa-to-its-room/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/09/16/the-10-oclock-the-alfie-breakup-is-still-killing-ottawa-and-its-enough-for-you-to-want-to-send-ottawa-to-its-room/#commentsMon, 16 Sep 2013 17:00:14 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=128666Good morning and welcome to the first 10 O’Clock of the week. You deserve a break already; the return to work this morning has been positively exhausting!

I’m thinking this morning about Amazing Race Canada, about how its inaugural season …

]]>Good morning and welcome to the first 10 O’Clock of the week. You deserve a break already; the return to work this morning has been positively exhausting!

I’m thinking this morning about Amazing Race Canada, about how its inaugural season has been a surprising winner — I wasn’t sure about the concept when the season started, but it’s been fantastic and really well-cast — and I’m delighted to have finally caught up on PVR going into tonight’s finale in Toronto.

Too bad that Jet and Dave, one of the truly funniest pairs in Amazing Race history — I know, I’ve watched practically every season since the U.S. version premiered in 2001 — were eliminated last round. I’d been thinking, though, that no matter what happened, we might not have seen the last of these compelling, unusual characters. And then Jon Montgomery, the Olympian-turned-host, said the same thing after he bounced them. CTV, if you’re smart, you’re thinking about how you could use these guys going forward.

And so, the finale tonight. 9 p.m. on CTV. And with the boys gone, I’m cheering for the other boys: the brothers, Cory and Jody Mitic. Now, they’ve been popular since the start of the race. Come on, who wouldn’t cheer for a double-amputee to beat able-bodied foes? Really, Jody has been stunning. The things he’s had to do are hard enough when you have two good legs, let alone none. He’s had huge guts, which isn’t surprising for a former Canadian Army sniper. And in the last leg, when he had to make $50 “busking” on the streets of St. John’s, he realized that he had no musical, acting or dancing talents. Brilliantly, he decided to tell his story. Yes, the story about what happened to him. We viewers didn’t catch the whole thing, but it was incredible. And then the kicker: how he married, and has had children with, one of the medics who saved his life. My god. There’s a movie, right there. Or at least an amazing book. Go, brothers. Win it.

Mark Sutcliffe, that is pure genius. The clothes he’s wearing, of course, is a Detroit Red Wings uniform. When he comes back to town to visit? Sunday, Dec. 1, in the afternoon. At the arena. The Sens vs. the Wings. And there will be tears! More tears! How awkward. A wonderful piece to kick things off on a Monday morning.

This is a great story. Really indepth and insightful. And like I said, the Americans are only too aware of the young McMorris, or the New York Times wouldn’t be going to Saskatchewan. I’ve shared this video with you before, in the early summer. In under four minutes, you’ll develop an appreciation for this kid.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/09/16/the-10-oclock-the-alfie-breakup-is-still-killing-ottawa-and-its-enough-for-you-to-want-to-send-ottawa-to-its-room/feed/0danielalfredssonottawabreakupjonnymac68Favourite moments from the 2012 NFL seasonhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/31/favourite-moments-from-the-2012-nfl-season/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/31/favourite-moments-from-the-2012-nfl-season/#commentsThu, 31 Jan 2013 17:05:36 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=102039Although the NFL championship game is on Sunday and everyone seems to have forgotten about the regular season, I’m choosing to spend one more day living in the past.

The following moments appear in no particular order. To me they …

]]>Although the NFL championship game is on Sunday and everyone seems to have forgotten about the regular season, I’m choosing to spend one more day living in the past.

The following moments appear in no particular order. To me they represent everything that was remarkable about the 2012 NFL regular season. Although there is still a lot of history to be written, this is what comes to mind when I look back upon the last 17 weeks of gridiron greatness.

Just like the NFL, we count by 7’s.

Nobody really wants to see field goals anyway.

1. One night stand as a Ravens fan

Mere hours after the tragic death of his brother, Baltimore Ravens wide receiver Torrey Smith decided he would rejoin his team and suit up for their huge showdown with New England Patriots.

The Pats had defeated the Ravens in the 2012 AFC championship game, so Baltimore needed all hands on deck for retribution. Smith finished the game with 6 catches for 127 yards and two TDs as the Ravens won 31-30 in controversial fashion.

I will admit that I have never much cared for the Indianapolis Colts. I’ve always respected the team and Peyton Manning, but they always seemed to be at odds with teams that I do love and cheer for regularly. So I was pretty content watching their 2-14 collapse last season.

This year, with a new GM, head coach (Chuck Pagano) and rookie QB (Andrew Luck) the Colts set out to improve on their previous season, which shouldn’t have been hard. Just before the season, Pagano was diagnosed with leukemia and handed over the reins to Bruce Arians. The Colts played with heavy hearts and the hashtag #Chuckstrong became a motivational symbol for them. Several players, cheerleaders and others in the organization shaved their heads in support of Pagano, and the man returned weeks later to give this emotional speech after a huge win.

The Colts are in the playoffs, Pagano’s cancer has gone into remission and I am rooting for them with everything I have.

3. “Fail Mary or: How I learned to stop worrying and love the regular referees”

For weeks the NFL had utilized replacement refs due to the regular officials refusing to accept a new deal. The “Reflacements” were an absolute disgrace and had a hand in numerous early season controversies. None were as glaring as what happened that night in Seattle. In a game marred by terrible calls against both teams, a late hail mary that was eventually deemed a “simultaneous catch” and touchdown (and win for Seattle) cause a sh**-storm of controversy in the sports world.

NFL athletes took the league to task on twitter,lobbing unprecedented criticisms towards commissioner Roger Goodell for letting the replacement referee madness go on so long. Whether you are a fan of either team or not, a moment like this had to happen to end the strike, which is exactly what happened mere days later.

This season, I have never hid from the fact that I am A) A Jets fan B) A better QB than Mark Sanchez. While I don’t have the loathing for his personality that I do for Jay Cutler (throw rocks at him), I still had to watch as “The Sanchize” repeatedly cost the Jets games with turnovers and just… ugh!

One of those turnovers was the last straw for me. In a game against the New England Patriots (a division rival), Sanchez took his idiocy to a new level when he ran into his own offensive lineman’s ass and fumbled the football. It was a moment that will forever be known, as “The Butt Fumble”.

It was an early season Monday night football matchup that promised a new chapter in an old division rivalry: The San Diego Chargers vs. the Denver Broncos.

But these weren’t just any old Broncos, no sir. They were led by multi-time MVP Peyton Manning, who himself was coming off a serious neck injury that required surgery and cost him the entire 2011 season.

The Broncos had done alright in the first few weeks, and Manning had good moments and bad on the field. On this night, a bunch of turnovers in the first half had the Broncos trailing 24-0 in San Diego. Game over, right?

Wrong. Peyton took control of the game in the second half and the Broncos ended up winning 35-24. Since then, they have looked incredibly impressive with Manning leading the offense and they are the No.1 seed in the AFC. The Chargers? They got Manning’d and never recovered.

The Seattle Seahawks have had an incredible year, a lot of which is due to their defense, and a lot of their defense can be attributed to DB Richard Sherman.

His fantastic season might just end up giving him a defensive player of the year award, but it was his post-game smack talk of Patriots QB Tom Brady after a huge comeback win. Sherman tweeted a picture of the event, and solidified himself as a must-follow on twitter, and a must watch defender for league quarterbacks.

Sometimes a situation arises in the NFL that most would deem “impossible”. And most times, those people are 100% correct. The Baltimore Ravens, on a late game drive were faced with a monumental (and kind of hilarious) task.

That task was 4th down, 29 yards to get a 1st down. Imagine the panic in the hearts of Ravens fans when Ray Rice got the ball on a dump pass at the line of scrimmage with 8 defenders between him and awesomeness.

Rather than write about it, let’s go to the video and see what Ray Rice thinks of the word “impossible”.

Spoiler Alert – He doesn’t much care for it.

There you have it folks. Those are the huge moments of the 2012 regular season that I will always remember. There were some that were special, but I know they’ll one day be forgotten and thus, they didn’t make the cut this season.

I wish I could say the same about the “Butt Fumble”. That will be in my head for a looooooong time.

(The QB tryouts for the 2013 Jets)

You can follow j.Bow on twitter (@jBowmancouver). He is as surprised as you are that 4th & Blog “man-crush” RG3 isn’t featured in this article.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/31/favourite-moments-from-the-2012-nfl-season/feed/0MarkSanchezbuttfumblejbowman85Torrey SmithChuckstrongFailmarySanchezsadPeytonangryshermanpickimages2(The QB tryouts for the 2013 Jets)Seattle Seahawks fans have nothing to worry abouthttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/18/seattle-seahawks-fans-have-nothing-to-worry-about/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/18/seattle-seahawks-fans-have-nothing-to-worry-about/#commentsFri, 18 Jan 2013 20:00:38 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=103775Despite an inspired comeback attempt, the Seattle Seahawks lost a thriller to the Atlanta Falcons five days ago in Georgia. It was the end of a great ride this season for the Seahawks and their fans, who are an incredibly… …]]>Despite an inspired comeback attempt, the Seattle Seahawks lost a thriller to the Atlanta Falcons five days ago in Georgia. It was the end of a great ride this season for the Seahawks and their fans, who are an incredibly… vocal group.

(Even the dead ones get fired up for football)

So even though they failed to make it past the NFC divisional round, there are plenty of things Seahawks fans can be excited about. Hopefully by now your wounds will have healed and you’ll be open to looking at things with some positivity and hope. Because even though I’m not a “fan” of the Seahawks, there is no statement I believe more that the following:

The Seattle Seahawks are the best team currently not playing football.

Before I get deeper into this, I should clarify something. I don’t dislike the Seahawks at all, they are just one of those teams in the NFL I don’t actively cheer for. That is the benefit of not having a “home team” here in Vancouver, we are free to cheer for whomever we want free of geographical obligation.

I love the Steelers, I love the Cardinals, I love the Jets, I love the Rams.

It’s been a tough year for me as a fan, and I don’t have a lot of optimism for the future. If you are a Seahawks fan, you have more to look forward too in 2013 than any other fan that follows the NFL.

Here is why:

1. Past vs. Future

It is probably the opinion of pundits everywhere that the Denver Broncos are the best team not playing anymore this season, and while I see where they are coming from, I have to disagree. Although they had a great year, I worry about Peyton Manning and what another offseason will bring in terms of his ever-weakening arm. Make no mistake, the guy is still one of the best QBs walking the Earth, but he’s walked a lot of it.

He has some great young weapons in Eric Decker and Demaryius Thomas (I’m a huge fan of both), but the Seahawks have an explosive core put together on offense and defense. Plus, you have to appreciate Russell Wilson’s efforts in his rookie season. Just like the Broncos have an entire offseason to grow older, the young Seahawks have an entire offseason to mature and improve.

Speaking of which…

2. Russell Wilson is no Daredevil

Aside from my usual teams, I also got swept up in the RG3 tornado of awesomeness this past season. Even though he edged out Wilson for “Offensive Rookie of the Year”, Seahawks fans should take comfort in knowing that their QB has shown that he isn’t going to risk his long-term health for an extra yard. That may see like a bad thing, but look where that daredevil attitude has gotten QBs with a similar style in recent years. *cough* Michael Vick *cough* Dogfighter *cough*. Even RG3 ended the year incredibly banged up with a concussion and an ACL tear on his injury resume.

Sure Russell Wilson might not get that extra yard or two, but he’ll still be standing on 3rd down.

3. 12th Man Advantage

It is common knowledge that Century Link Field is one of, if not the most difficult stadium to play in on the road in the NFL. The much celebrated “12th man” (the fans, for all you CFL fans who are confused right now) has a proven impact on the game, and with this much to be excited about, next year they will only be louder.

Interesting to note, Seattle lost exactly 0 games at home this season. But when they did lose…

4. It’s the way they lose

Take a look at the loss to the Falcons last week. The Seahawks were getting slapped around in the first half so badly that twitter was dead silent for the most part (the 13th man may as well be Seattle’s twitter fanbase. A vocal bunch they are). But whereas most teams would roll over and die, Seattle fought back and made it one of the most exciting playoff games in recent memory. It’s not the first time this season where they have staged an epic comeback, and you have got to feel good about cheering for a team that is never truly out of a game.

A lot of that comes down to halftime or sideline adjustments, which is why it can’t be ignored that…

5. Pete Carroll has a long-term plan

When the Seahawks hired Carroll from USC in 2010, he set fire to the Seahawks roster and rebuilt it from scratch. In his first season he made over 200 transactions, which is almost unheard of in the modern NFL. The massive overturn didn’t yield immediate results, but the fingerprints from his early deals can be seen on the field now.

He has built a solid nucleus of young, hungry players who believe in him and his philosophy. The decision to start Russell Wilson instead of expensive QB (and “obvious” starter) Matt Flynn was controversial, but it paid off huge and definitely gave Carroll a lot of trust with the fans and the ownership group.

Next season, he will be entering the 4th year of his 5 year contract, and with all the coaching vacancies every season, I would not be surprised to see the Seahawks extend his deal at the end of next season.

So there you have it Seahawks fans. Your beloved Oceanbirds are in great shape even though they have cleaned out their lockers and will be watching the final four teams battle it out on Conference Championship weekend.

As much as I love Richard Sherman (a dark horse candidate for “Defensive Player of the Year”), the one guy who exemplifies every reason why you should be fired up for next year is Russell Wilson.

What was he doing immediately after cleaning out his locker?

Watching game film.

Studying.

Learning.

Growing.

Next season will be a big one. Just don’t beat up on the Cardinals too badly, ok?

You can follow j.Bow on twitter (@jBowmancouver). It goes without saying that Marshawn Lynch is a huge part of the Seahawks future, but I will put it here just to avoid your hate mail for excluding him.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/18/seattle-seahawks-fans-have-nothing-to-worry-about/feed/0RussellWilsonPeteCarrolljbowman85(Even the dead ones get fired up for football)PeytonManningangrySan Francisco 49ers v Seattle SeahawksRussellWilsonslideSeattle-SeahawksSeahawksvsFalconsPeteCarrollNFC Wild Card preview: Seahawks vs. Redskinshttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/06/nfc-wild-card-preview-seahawks-vs-redskins/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/06/nfc-wild-card-preview-seahawks-vs-redskins/#commentsSun, 06 Jan 2013 17:43:02 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=102037Once again, I’m going to kick off a preview article with a quote. Unlike the regular season where I could always rely on Hank Williams Jr, for the postseason I’m reaching out to other sources for inspiration. So…

A wise …

]]>Once again, I’m going to kick off a preview article with a quote. Unlike the regular season where I could always rely on Hank Williams Jr, for the postseason I’m reaching out to other sources for inspiration. So…

A wise man once said:

“Home is where the heart is”

Not sure who said it, so I’m just going to attribute it to Kano from “Mortal Kombat” like I did this morning.

One team is the unofficial “home team” of Vancouver and are nearly impossible to defeat when they play at home in the Pacific Northwest. They are led by a surprising rookie QB who struggled early but has been sensational down the stretch, making his coach look like a genius for picking him to start over an expensive free agent. The offense is clicking, the defense has been remarkable and the only question is can they do it on the road?

The other team, fights out of the American capital and is riding the wave that the most exciting rookie of the modern era set in motion. They are winners of seven in a row and are the hottest team coming into the playoffs. Propelled by a rookie running back, the team laid waste to the Dallas Cowboys six days ago to win the NFC East and lock down a home game in the wild card round. The big question is whether or not their defense can do anything to support their run for the Lombardi trophy…

It’s Seahawks. It’s Redskins.

IT’S NFC WILD CARD FOOTBALL !!!

KEY STORYLINES:

For the Seahawks…

- “Poor Matt Flynn” said nobody anywhere who isn’t his mom. Pete Carroll made the eyebrow raising decision to name diminutive rookie QB Russell Wilson his starting QB and after a bumpy start, the kid has flourished. It all started with his amazing comeback win against the Patriots in the mid-season, and continued to build throughout the year. Wilson is a bona-fide “Offensive Rookie of the Year” candidate, and many people believe he might win. I’m not one of them, but still he has had an incredible year.

- With all the talk of Houston’s J.J. Watt as a probably “Defensive Player of the Year”, it is absolutely absurd that Richard Sherman of the Seahawks has been so overlooked. He is more than a viable contender for the award, as he is the first player in NFL history to finish with 8+ INT, 3+ FF, 1+ sack, and 20+ passes defended. Not only that, but I also wrote about a very important stat that he led the NFL in this season: “Smack talk”.

- The defense may get a lot of attention, but the offense absolutely set the league on fire during the month of December. Although they played a few pathetic teams (Don’t be proud of what you did to the Cards/Bills), their HUGE 42-13 win against their bitter division rivals in San Francisco was a statement the entire NFC heard.

Seattle is 4-0 during the last quarter of the regular season.

Key Injuries – None

For the Redskins…

- The world is watching today as three of the NFL’s best young QB’s will see their first playoff games in their first NFL seasons. Robert Griffin III is considered by many to be the finest of the bunch (myself included) although he has seemingly lost a step after suffering a knee injury against Baltimore a few weeks ago. If the Redskins can win, they need to do it on RG3’s legs and off his arm. It’s been several weeks since the incident, and he has the home fans behind him chanting “RG3″ and “MVP”.

- Overshadowed by rookie QB is the Redskins rookie running back Alfred Morris. Morris absolutely torched the Dallas defense in week 17 for 200 yards and 3 touchdowns. He has been quietly good all season, and last week seemed to be his coming out party. He broke the Redskins single season rushing record and is a huge reason their offense is a success. Don’t let RG3 blind you from this guy, he is a stud.

- The Redskins have been playing playoff football for the last 7 weeks. They looked all but dead way back then, but have picked themselves up and have gone on a tear. Wins are all that matters, and that is what they’ve done. It hasn’t always been pretty, but I remember a team last season that needed to win several games in a row but defeated the Dallas Cowboys in week 17 for the NFC East title. That team was the New York Giants, and they won the Super Bowl. Just sayin….

Washington is 4-0 in the last quarter of the regular season.

Key Injuries – None (BUT HOW BAD IS RG3’s KNEE?!)

Bottom Line: I have made no attempt to hide my gridiron man-crush on Robert Griffin III this year. He is an amazing football player and apparently one helluva gentleman, so it was easy for me to appreciate what he brought to the game. But it isn’t about one man (unless it is a Manning), this is a team game and that will be RG3’s undoing. Their defense allows over 300 yards per game this season, so Griffin has pretty much needed to will them along, but the interesting thing is that he has. Even though he suffered a concussion and a late season knee injury, you can’t deny he has shown a lot of heart this year.

But the Seahawks are a complete team. Their offense has been an absolute beast in the last stretch of the season and if there is any team that can snuff out the momentum of a Redskins team that just won 7 in a row, it’s the Seahawks. Russell Wilson is making Pete Carroll look smarter with every completion, and it will be interesting to see which (if either) rookie blinks first now that the stakes have been raised. So…

Having said that, Seattle should win this game.

Defensive “Difference Maker”: Richard Sherman (Seahawks DB)

Offensive “Impact Player”: Alfred Morris (Redskins RB)

(Either of these guys, really)

Enjoy the game tonight, folks. Kickoff is 1:30 pst

I hope you are adequately prepared for some football.

You can follow j.Bow on twitter (@jBowmancouver). He would name his cat “Robert Griffin IV” if he had a cat. He does not. Good news for that hypothetical cat.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2013/01/06/nfc-wild-card-preview-seahawks-vs-redskins/feed/0SeahawksvsRedskinsjbowman85MKIKanoHeartRipFatalityGIFSeahawksLogoRedskinsshermanpick(Either of these guys, really)NFL midseason report card: Ranking the best teams & players in the NFChttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/10/31/nfl-midseason-report-card-ranking-the-best-teams-players-in-the-nfc/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/10/31/nfl-midseason-report-card-ranking-the-best-teams-players-in-the-nfc/#commentsWed, 31 Oct 2012 16:00:13 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=95207We have just wrapped up week 8 of the 2012 NFL season, and using my incredible math skills (and 4th & Blog’s official “Abacus of champions”) that means we are halfway done with this campaign and that means one thing:…]]>We have just wrapped up week 8 of the 2012 NFL season, and using my incredible math skills (and 4th & Blog’s official “Abacus of champions”) that means we are halfway done with this campaign and that means one thing:

It’s time to get crazy judgemental up in here!

The following is a breakdown of how the NFC side of the league has fared so far this season. There are a lot of teams that still have a very good chance at making the playoffs, but even though others have better records, a few teams at .500 or below look a lot stronger.

So without any further delay, here are the “Midseason NFC Report Cards”.

(Warning: This recap is EXPLOSIVE!)

Arizona Cardinals (4-4) Grade: C

Why the grade? Arizona jumped off to an impressive 4-0 start (their first since the 197os. This team had its foundation built on a strong, aggressive defence, but unfortunately injuries have exposed their offence and the “Redbirds” have dropped four straight.

What can they do to improve? Some consistency at QB is a great place to start, or the offensive line. Whether it be John Skelton or Kevin Kolb, neither Cardinals signal-caller has been given the proper time to find Pro Bowl WR Larry Fitzgerald, and having to lean on 3rd and 4th string RBs will not win them any games moving forward.

Who is their impact player? Daryl Washington (LB) – On a team filled with such defensive leaders as Darnell Dockett and Patrick Peterson, it’s Washington who has been a massive part of the Cardinals success.

Atlanta Falcons (7-0) – Grade: A

Why the grade? Their the only undefeated team left in the NFL, and although they had a close call against the Oakland Raiders a few weeks ago, they’ve looked dominant and have not shown a lot of weakness on either side of the ball.

What can they do to improve? Start winning by larger margins? I don’t know. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Who is their impact player? Matt Ryan (QB) – “Matty Ice” has been stellar, but not flashy so far this season. He is just the kind of sure-handed signal caller that can win the Dirty Birds a championship.

Carolina Panthers (1-6) – Grade: F

Why the grade? Because they are playing brutal football, and even when they look like they have a good chance to win a game, they dig deep and find a way to lose. Nobody wants it less.

What can they do to improve? There is a long list, so basically they can start anywhere. If this were a legit report card, Carolina would be asked to repeat the 2012 season.

Who is their impact player? It should be Cam Newton, but his sophomore slump is right on track and his attitude is dropping with his success.

Chicago Bears (6-1) – Grade: B+

Why the grade? The Bears have risen up in a tough NFC North division and have managed to continue building on their defensive identity with some new offensive weapons for QB Jay Cutler.

What can they do to improve? Not a whole lot to be honest. They’ve been forced to come back in some tough games, and were lucky to escape the recent Panthers game with a win.

Who is their impact player? Jay Cutler (QB) – I hate him, and have made no attempt to hide that, but when Cutler is on his game, there are few better in the NFL.

Dallas Cowboys (3-4) – Grade: C

Why the grade? For all their talent, Dallas just can’t seem to stop shooting themselves in the foot. Turnovers have plagued this team all season, and even though the offence has put up strong numbers, they find themselves below .500 and in danger of missing the playoffs unless drastic changes are made.

What can they do to improve? Keep the ball. That’s a pretty simple thing in theory, but for some reason Dallas seems to have trouble with it. Romo’s interceptions have cursed “America’s Team”. Keep the offence simple with short yardage plays and take fewer shots down the field.

Who is their impact player? Jason Witten (TE) – Although Miles Austin has also had a strong season, Jason Witten has had an incredible comeback from a preseason spleen laceration and set a Cowboys single game receiving record during their last game.

Detroit Lions (3-4) – Grade: C

Why the grade? The Lions have been inconsistent this year (and trust me, I know that C grades go hand-in-hand with inconsistency), and they haven’t really clicked on offence yet. A few of their wins have come from last-minute thrillers or in overtime, so although they are only one game below .500, they have much more significant problems

What can they do to improve? They seem to be on the right track in the last few weeks with the emergence of Titus Young as a viable receiving threat. WR1 Calvin Johnson has yet to show signs of his former dominance, and the Lions need someone to step up and pick up the slack. Looks like they have that, so now it’s time to put a win streak together.

Who is their impact player? At the moment, it looks like Titus Young is emerging as the guy who can get it done in Detroit. Matthew Stafford and Calvin Johnson may be the marquee names, but Young is the guy making the Lions relevent right now.

Green Bay Packers (5-3) – Grade:B

Why the grade? They started off pretty poorly, but it seems like the explosive offence has gotten back on track, even with the loss of WR1 Greg Jennings.

What can they do to improve? The defence has got to get better. There is no other team in the NFC with a more glaring Achilles heel than the Packers, but with Clay Matthews and Charles Woodson, they really shouldn’t be that vulnerable.

Who is their impact player? Aaron Rodgers (QB) – The reigning NFL MVP will be the go-to guy in Green Bay as long as he’s wearing his #12 jersey. This team lives on dies on the arm and legs of Rodgers.

Minnesota Vikings (5-3) – Grade: B-

Why the grade? When they’re on, they look incredibly dangerous. A stout defence is just the thing to support their weapons on offence, but it’s hard to predict which Vikings team will show up any given week.

What can they do to improve? Christian Ponder and the Vikings offence has looked incredibly dangerous at times, but their consistency has hit a bit of a snag and if they want to start winning games and taking a run at the NFC North division, the passing game needs to find a regular groove.

Who is their impact player? Adrian Peterson (RB) – I have never seen a running back return from a devastating ACL injury and look so good so quickly. His cuts, his downfield speed, his power, it seems as though Peterson has returned to full form, and this is a huge help as far as opening things up downfield for Christian Ponder is concerned.

New Orleans Saints (2-5) – Grade: D

Why the grade? Although they are trending upwards after their abysmal start to the year, the Saints having success is like a car running on fumes. They’ve got minor remnants of a decent football team still in place, and amidst all the scandals they’ve been just the team everyone expected them to be.

What can they do to improve? The Saints offence is not really in need of any major overhaul. Drew Brees is still one of the elite QBs in the game, and Darren Sproles continues to surprise every time he touches the ball. If the Saints want to win anything this year (even respect), they need to step it up on defence BIG TIME. Their D unit is one of the most laughable in football, and you gotta believe it’s tough for Drew Brees to sit on the sideline and watch the deficit he must overcome increase with each defensive series

Who is their impact player? Drew Brees (QB) – Hands down, without Drew Brees this would be one of the worst teams in football. The fact that he is still lining up under center means you can’t count them out every single week. Unfortunately, he doesn’t play linebacker.

New York Giants (6-2) – Grade: B

Why the grade? The Giants were embarrassed at home in the first game of the season, and have only dropped one since that night against the Dallas Cowboys. They’ve teetered on the edge of defeat numerous times, but Eli Manning has proven to be one of the best comeback players in recent NFL history.

What can they do to improve? The fact that Eli has to stage comebacks should be a concern for the Giants. Aside from Jason Pierre-Paul, their once formidable defence has been up and down so far this season. However when that unit is firing on all cylinders, they look nearly unstoppable, Offensively they get complete efforts from all positions, they just need that on defence to be SERIOUS Super Bowl contenders.

Who is their impact player? Eli Manning (QB) – He has been the nerve center of the Giants for the last several seasons, but it’s funny to think he might not even be the best “Manning” in the NFL.

Philadelphia Eagles (3-4) – Grade: C

Why the grade? Ugh, the Eagles are one of the most schizophrenic teams in the NFL. The few times they look good, they look just alright. When they look bad? They are incredibly frustrating to watch. That goes double for Michael Vick.

What can they do to improve? Michael Vick needs to go. If even for one game, a change in personnel at QB could be just what the Eagles need to jumpstart their offence. The man is more of a turnover factory than Cowboys QB Tony Romo, and the risk of playing him is far outweighed by the reward of taking a chance.

Who is their impact player? LeSean McCoy (RB) – He seems to be the only guy that can be counted on week to week in Philly.

Seattle Seahawks (4-4) – Grade: C+

Why the grade? Seattle is one of the better .500 teams in the NFL, and their problems aren’t nearly as apparent as some of the NFL’s other borderline teams. They’ve lost a couple close one, and aside from the St. Louis Rams loss, they haven’t been truly “outplayed” by any opponents in 2012.

What can they do to improve? The defence has not been the issue for the Oceanbirds. Instead they have been vulnerable on offence due to the up and down play of rookie QB Russell Wilson. He was incredible leading the comeback against the Patriots, but aside from that he hasn’t taken over a game all season. With Sidney Rice, Golden Tate and Doug Baldwin as his primary receivers, the workload should stay on the shoulders of pro bowl RB Marshawn Lynch.

Who is their impact player? Richard Sherman (DB) – The defensive stalwart who I claimed last week led the NFL in the all important category of “smack talk” has been a tremendous shutdown presence on the Seahawks defence.

San Francisco 49ers (6-2) – Grade: B+

Why the grade? Their terrible performance against the Vikings a few weeks ago showed that this team (which was my preseason Super Bowl pick) is not perfect, but the plus comes in because I think that is just what they needed to pull them back down to Earth.

What can they do to improve? They showed it on Monday night against the Arizona Cardinals: The offence needs to keep it simple. Alex Smith rarely took shots down the field and Frank Gore did his part in the 49ers backfield. This kind of low-risk play calling is exactly how the Niners can grind down opposing defenses and take control of the clock.

Who is their impact player? Navorro Bowman (LB) – The 49ers defence is one of, if not THE best in the NFL. Bowman (along with Patrick Willis) led the way for a team that I look forward to seeing battle the Falcons in the NFC title game come January.

St. Louis Rams (3-5) – Grade: C

Why the grade? They took out a red-hot Seahawks team, started the complete derailing of the then-undefeated Cardinals and have shown to be one of the best defenses teams in an already hard-hitting NFC West division

What can they do to improve? They need WR Danny Amendola back, now! QB Sam Bradford was finally looking like he was putting his dreadful sophomore season behind him, when his No.1 receiver went down with a broken clavicle. None of the Rams receivers have stepped up in his absence, and with an uncertain time-share in the backfield, the re-introduction of Amendola in week 10 could be just what this team needs to make an improbable wild card run.

Who is their impact player? Greg Zuerlein (K) – Yes, their kicker has been their most impactful player at the halfway point this season. The rookie known as “Young G.Z.” and “Legatron” went 15 for 15 to start the year, and after a few misses, he looks to be back on track.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers (3-4) – Grade: C+

Why the grade? Definitely one of the best sub .500 teams in the NFL, few are trending upward as fast and as strong as the Bucs, thanks in no small part to their explosive offence.

What can they do to improve? Well, the reason I said they were trending upward is because the one thing they needed to improve (their running game), was the reason they beat the living crap out of the Minnesota Vikings last Thursday night. Doug Martin went off on the Vikings, so now the main thing the Bucs need to work on is… consistently having a solid running game. Their passing attack is beyond formidable, so a balanced offence will lead them to nothing but wins.

Who is their impact player? Josh Freeman (QB) – Freeman has a pretty rough start to the year, but since building a solid chemistry with Vincent Jackson and Mike Williams, his stats have been among the best in the NFL.

Washington Redskins (3-5) – Grade: C-

Why the grade? Primarily because they are built around one man, and that man is a rookie. His explosive playmaking ability has led the Redskins to their victories, but they’ve looked terrible when he has been injured or when an opposing defence has neutralized him.

What can they do to improve? Balance balance balance. Ask the 2011 Denver Broncos, you can only rely on a magical playmaker for so long before an opposing defence figures you out. While I don’t think that is what happened when the Redskins lost to the Steelers last week, if they plan to win more games (and protect their best player), they need to focus a lot more on the running game. The receiving corps dropped NINE passes last week, so if they are looking for something to improve aside from balance, may I suggest CATCHING?!

Who is their impact player? Robert Griffin III (QB) – If there is any doubt in your mind that RG3 isn’t the most important player on this Redskins team, you get an “F” as an NFL fan.

(Physically…I don’t think this should be possible, but it is!)

So there you have it folks, with half of the 2012 NFL season in the books, this is how the NFC breaks down. A lot of teams with ups and downs, positives and negatives. A few clear-cut playoff contenders have emerged, but the parity in the NFC could see things dramatically shift by the 3/4 point in 4 weeks.

Tune in to 4th & Blog tomorrow for the “Halfway Point” report cards for the AFC.

You can follow j.Bow on twitter (@jBowmancouver). He got a lot of C’s in highschool, but he CRUSHED IT in drama and gym class.

]]>http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/10/31/nfl-midseason-report-card-ranking-the-best-teams-players-in-the-nfc/feed/0MattRyanMVPjbowman85t5-matt-ryan-atlanta-falcons-previously-1stRG3rushesSeahawks sophomore Richard Sherman leads the NFL in smack talk this seasonhttp://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/10/26/seahawks-sophomore-richard-sherman-leads-the-nfl-in-smack-talk-this-season/
http://blogs.theprovince.com/2012/10/26/seahawks-sophomore-richard-sherman-leads-the-nfl-in-smack-talk-this-season/#commentsFri, 26 Oct 2012 16:27:29 +0000http://blogs.theprovince.com/?p=94396While I don’t feel one way or the other about the Seattle Seahawks (although fans constantly complaining about Super Bowl XL annoy the piss out of me), I must say I’ve become quite enamored with defensive back Richard Sherman this …]]>While I don’t feel one way or the other about the Seattle Seahawks (although fans constantly complaining about Super Bowl XL annoy the piss out of me), I must say I’ve become quite enamored with defensive back Richard Sherman this year.

From what I gather during my exhaustive research periods, Sherman leads the league in a very important category: “controversial smack talk”. Such a stat is the cornerstone on which the swagger-centric NFL is built. But even on the skill side, Sherman is having an excellent 2012 campaign as part of the Seahawks top ranked defence. He is clearly backing up his impressive verbal beatdown skills.

(Backing it up the only way he knows how: interceptions)

While I’m not saying that “The Shermanator” is the best smack talker in the game, the fact that not a week has gone by in October without him lipping off someone in a very newsworthy fashion places him at the top of the league in all smack related categories.

The incident: Sherman and Brady had apparently been chirping each other throughout the game, with Sherman boldly claiming he would intercept a pass if Brady kept trying him. Brady allegedly shrugged off the second year DB and told him they’d talk after the game.

Sherman than intercepted a Brady pass, and made sure to track him down after the game for a conversation (which I can only assume wasn’t about “The Walking Dead”). Sherman then tweeted a picture of the post-game confrontation, after the Seahawks rallied to win 24-23, adding a special caption.

After that, came some strong “Pot to Kettle” smack.

The victim: San Francisco 49ers Head Coach Jim Harbaugh.

The incident: Harbaugh coached Sherman in college at Stanford University, so these two are acquainted. After the 49ers defeated the Seahawks 13-6 on Thursday Night Football last week, Harbaugh had some choice words for Sherman and fellow Seahawks DB Brandon Browner. Harbaugh claimed they were “too rough” with the 49ers receivers

Sherman’s response (because you know he had one)?

“Sometimes, man, when the bully gets bullied, that’s how that happens”.

(Would’ve been awesome on “The Wire”)

After all this, comes my favourite BY FAR of Richard Sherman’s “Tour De Smack” this October:

The incident: This is the freshest example of Sherman talking the biggest game in the league, and it’s also the most ridiculous… which makes it the most incredible.

It’s common knowledge in football fandom that Calvin Johnson’s “Transformers” inspired nickname is “Megatron” (taken from the 80s children’s cartoon and the awful live-action movies). The Lions play the Seahawks on Sunday morning, and Richard Sherman has given himself a new nickname, also taken from “Transformers”….

“Optimus Prime”.

Even changed his twitter handle.

(Not pictured: Massive cojones)

For those unfamiliar with why this is awesome, I will send it over to NFL.com, who had this amazing take on the situation that I wish I had made up…

“Now he (Sherman) has assumed the identity of a “Transformers” hero-bot.

From the cartoon’s heavily trafficked Wiki page: “Optimus Prime is the awe-inspiring leader of the Autobot forces. Selfless and endlessly courageous, he is the complete opposite of his mortal enemy Megatron. Originally a mere civilian, he was chosen by the Matrix to command, the first in a number of heavy burdens he has been forced to bear. Another is his bringing of the Transformers’ conflict to Earth.”

If you were to ask me at the beginning of the season if I thought I’d read an NFL.com article that breaks down the protagonist/antagonist dynamic of the Transformers cartoon, I would have said no.

Thanks to Richard Sherman and his Ion canon of smacktalk, I got to see that happen. This is a good day.

Be sure to watch the Seahawks/Lions game this Sunday to find out which is the superior giant robot.

(Not you Cleatus, FOX NFL robot. You can go to Robo-hell)

You can follow j.Bow on twitter (@jBowmancouver). He is still waiting for someone to take their NFL nickname from “Go-Bots”. Eh? Anybody? Go-Bots?! Caman!”